


The Paths We Choose

by Batwish



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Renegade Catra, supporting each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2019-10-30 12:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 60,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17828168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batwish/pseuds/Batwish
Summary: After their barely won victory at Bright Moon, the Princess Alliance scrambles to find a way to heal the Whispering Woods and restore their defenses. Adora, Glimmer and Bow go to a kingdom thought gone to plead for their aid. Meanwhile, the Horde stays close on their heels, desperate to press their advantage while they have it.But the kingdom they come to is not what they expect and more than one of them might find their place in life is elsewhere than they believe.





	1. Adora

**Author's Note:**

> For things first, this is not a Catra/Adora romance. Yes, it will be Catra's redemption arc, but it won't be all happy and perfect once she switches. It's not easy to rewrite your life completely.  
> Hope you enjoy anyway :D  
> the rating is because of some cursing

When Adora arrived to the courtroom, Glimmer and Bow were already seated at the table, a hologram map displayed across its surface and over a dozen princesses arguing over it with increasingly loud voices. She silently slipped past the guards at the door – not that she really needed to, but habit took control – and slid into an unoccupied seat between her friends. Both were silent, seeming content to let the rest of the Rebellion’s leaders hash it out, though Bow looked surprisingly severe and Glimmer wasn’t taking her eyes off of the table.

Adora gently nudged the Bright Moon princess to get her attention. “What’s going on?” Glimmer jerked back and snapped her gaze to Adora, eyes wide.

“Oh, hey Adora.” She replied cheerlessly, her smile painfully forced. Her friend subtly gestured to the usually-composed royals and generals who were starting to stand up around the table, as if it would give them more authority.

“You didn’t miss much. Except for me opening my big mouth and messing everything up. In the first five minutes, too.” Glimmer groaned and promptly buried her face in her folded arms. Bow leaned over and patted her on the shoulder, trying to hide his grimace.

Adora put her hand on Glimmer’s back, rubbing it as she’d seen Bow do on several occasions. “It’s not your fault. This alliance is still new, we’re bound to butt heads and say things that anger others. Whatever you said, I know you mea–”

“ENOUGH!”

The entire room went deathly silent, too shocked to speak. Queen Angella leaned on her hands on the table, ethereal wings spread wide and expression tired. A beat passed and she slowly drew herself up, every eye following her smooth movements. “I understand that you have differing opinions on this matter, but I implore you to discuss them with the respect befitting of an official court and not like children on the playground.”

Everyone averted their eyes and some coughed into their fists to cover their blushing. The ruler of Bright Moon smiled pleasantly, her eyes crinkling as she fought to keep her smile natural and gradually the tense atmosphere relaxed.

“Now that that’s settled,” she said as her expression visibly relaxed, retaking her seat and urging everyone to follow her lead, “I believe we never gave Commander Glimmer a chance to explain her reasoning for proposing this course of action.”

The princess in question shot up in her seat, surprise and worry in her face as her whole body went rigid. All heads turned to her, some encouraging, some disapproving, but all expectant. Her mother nodded at her and Adora rubbed the small of her back and the young princess slowly felt her muscles unwind. Fixing her expression into one suitable for a commander, she spoke as levelly as possible.

“Just like Salineas guards the ocean, the Kingdom of Faleanes lies in and around the gemstone mountains, which the Horde has to pass around if they want to reach any of the kingdoms.” Most of the princesses begrudgingly nodded in agreement when Glimmer pointed out a mass of elevated ground on the map, closer to the Horde than Bright Moon and surrounded by forested areas. Glimmer looked her mother in the eye, looking severe. “And they have a connection to the Whispering Woods, don’t they? They were in the previous Princess alliance and I’ve heard that they can navigate the Whispering Woods unlike anyone. They might know how to help heal them.”

Whispering and sounds of disbelief rang out around the table.

“They are untrustworthy!”

“If nothing else, just their position is an advantage.”

“Ha! A little smoke and mirrors and you believe whatever they want you to.”

“We know nothing about them.”

“They were a real asset before, they could be again!”

“They’re right on the Horde’s doorstep and haven’t been overrun yet, that says a lot about their strength.”

“More likely they’re cooperating with them. Wouldn’t be the first.”

Queen Angella clapped her hands sharply, bringing back order. After a hesitant pause, she spoke. “Yes. It’s true that Faleanes’ princess line had always had a strong connection to the Whispering Woods, but the woods stretch far into their territory, so it is possible they are simply trained to know how to navigate them.”

Bow shook his head, face serious. “That’s not always enough. I’ve grown up in the woods, but even I can’t find something if the woods don’t want me to find it.”

“See? They could be invaluable if there’s even the slightest chance they can help the Woods.” The young commander exclaimed, her professional facade breaking with a giant grin. Adora and Bow nodded along sagely.

The princesses watched with apprehension, looking at each other and grimacing, as though there was some tension that the ‘Best Friends Squad’ was missing. The general on the queen’s right stood up and bowed. “Your Majesty,” she started respectfully, “the Woods have always been our strongest defense, I do not disregard that. But what you are considering is too dangerous. Faleanes has always been solitary and kept its secrets. We do not know how they are faring or their opinion on the war. We could walk straight into a fully-armed Horde operation. We cannot risk losing three of our most important figures with Bright Moon so unprotected.”

Perfuma nodded, looking troubled and Frosta scowled at the map, while the rest of the Princess Alliance just shifted uncomfortably. Mermista was the first to break the sudden silence. “It seems worth a shot.” She drawled. “You need the Whispering Woods to recover. If there’s hope they know how to do that, go for it.”

“At least three quarters of their borders are with the Horde. You mean to tell me they have lasted all these years with nothing to protect them from attacks?” Spinnerella demanded.

“Well they obviously aren’t their allies or the Whispering Woods wouldn’t really work as a deterrent, would they?” The princess of Salineas shot back. “They didn’t join them like Princess Scorpia’s family. They’re probably just laying low to stay off their radar. In my opinion, worst case scenario, they send you back with empty hands and maybe exile from their kingdom.”

“They’re part of the reason the original Princess Alliance failed. They withdrew days before an assault on the Fright Zone. Without them acting out their part, the entire fight had been doomed. From then the Rebellion suffered huge losses.” Frosta said coolly, eyes narrowed in consideration. “They’re not reliable.”

“All of _your_ Kingdoms quit, twice. But you’re here again, aren’t you?” Glimmer shot back.

“Yes, but both us and our predecessors had reasons for doing so. _Sensible reasons_. Faleanes just disappeared.”

“Faleanes didn’t just break away from the rebellion, they broke all contact whatsoever. No letters, no princess ball, though we send them invitations every time, no one has seen hide nor hair of them.” Perfuma worried her hands on the table. “It’s possible something happened and they simply are no more.”

“Order!” Once again, all fell silent under Queen Angella’s stern tone. “We have heard what you have to say and I say we come up with a compromise. I hear and understand your concerns, but, bottom line is, we’re exposed and outnumbered. Even if we can overpower the Horde, their sheer amount of soldiers and weapons will eventually overwhelm us.”

Everybody hung their heads, because try as they might, they could not deny the truth of those words.

Angella sat back against her throne. “So I propose this, we send Commander Glimmer, Adora as She-Ra and Bow, with a squadron of guards that will escort them to the Faleanes border. Going further could be mistaken as a threat, but they’ll see if there are any signs of the Horde along the border and then report back to me. Meanwhile, Adora, Glimmer and Bow will enter the kingdom as _civilians_ and scope out the area before you make your entrance as yourselves and _only_ if you are certain that there is no threat. Is that acceptable?”

Reluctantly, unable to argue with her compromise, the rest of the alliance nodded their consent. Bow squeaked happily and Adora found herself in a crushing hug as Glimmer leaped out of her chair and threw her arms around her best friends’ shoulders. She grinned and saluted to her mother. “Crystal clear, your majesty.”

And promptly teleported herself and her friends to her room to get ready.

* * *

Adora sat on the edge of Glimmer’s couch, preferring it to the quicksand-like middle, because honestly, who made furniture into inescapable traps? Even the Horde knew better. Glimmer was flitting around her room like a big butterfly, with the occasional flurry of sparks accompanying her powers. Bow hurried after her as she pulled things from various closets and shelves and her vanity desk, and left them laying underfoot. She was mumbling under her breath, something about packing right for their mission.

She seemed more nervous than for their other princess-recruiting missions and Adora couldn’t grasp why. Maybe the strong opposition to her idea was putting her on edge? But shouldn’t that just act as a stronger motivator to prove them wrong? She still had things to learn about Bright Moon’s ways, apparently.

She herself wasn’t feeling all too confident either, but rather than worry of disappointing, it stemmed from the lack of information she had about this kingdom. All of the former ones were documented, to some degree, by the Horde and all trainees had been regularly forced to memorize them. It had been more about the kingdom’s military prowess and defense systems than the princesses who ran them, but she had had something to go off of.

Now, she was virtually walking in blind. And it didn’t sound like her friends knew much more.

The importance of this mission didn’t go over her head, either. With the Whispering Woods destroyed and seemingly not healing, Bright Moon was exposed to attacks at all times. They had been backed into defense and what was left of their army was spread thin to cover all blind spots and be prepared for another inevitable attack. They needed to fix the woods and _soon_. The Horde would not hesitate to press their advantage.

This had to go well.

Pulling her legs up to sit cross-legged on the fluffy pink couch, she watched her friends for a moment before deciding she needed to know. “Alright. What’s the big deal with this kingdom? Other than helping the woods.”

She paused for a moment, wondering if she was about to poke sleeping lions. “Everyone was ridiculously against us going there.”

Glimmer froze, both arms halfway inside a drawer, before she heaved a sigh and closed it quietly. Bow stopped picking up the discarded items on the ground and came to sit on the couch. He leaned back, somehow not getting swallowed up by the mattress, and held the princess’s gaze.

Adora was just about to backtrack, afraid she had opened a still-healing wound, but Glimmer beat her to the punch. “They’re not against them, not really. They just don’t know what to think about them.”

The ex-Horde soldiers eyebrows leaped to her hairline. As far as she could tell, she was pretty sure Frosta had been ready to freeze them to the ground to keep them from going.

“Why’s that so bad?”

“Well, the concern that they might be working with the Horde for one.” The princess suggested airily.

“And you can’t just ask me?” Adora fired back instantly. “As cadets we had to read and remember information about every kingdom, especially the ones the Horde is closest to. There was never anything about a kingdom in the gemstone mountains nor a mention of Feyleenes.”

“Faleanes.” Bow corrected gently.

Glimmer gave a high-pitched laugh, eyes darting around the room, but Adora’s pointed look pierced right through the facade. The princess almost seemed to deflate and came to lean on the wall next to Adora.

Her voice was bleak when she spoke. “What Frosta said, about the Rebellion getting their butts kicked after Faleanes left is putting it lightly. I wasn’t there, I was just a baby when it happened, but the Rebellion’s entire strategy was so heavily based around the queens and princesses’ powers that when one backed off so suddenly, the entire structure fell apart.”

Adora sucked in a surprised breath. The princess didn’t continue, but having been through strategy drills, the ex-soldier could imagine what happened. Towns left in ruins, people fleeing from their home or hurt or worse. The Horde must have been pretty much unopposed. The damage they could do in circumstances like that…

She shivered, decidedly not following that train of thought. The queen or princess of Faleanes had to have known what their retreat would cause. Frosta was right, it made them untrustworthy, made their loyalty and dedication too fickle.

But they were the only ones who could know how to restore the Woods.

“Come on, we should be going.” Bow’s voice cut into her thoughts. He pushed himself up – damn near sending her into the depths of the demon couch – and marched to the door. Glimmer cast one hopeless look at her closet, before dutifully following after him, Adora on her heels.

They had a mission.

* * *

A platoon of soldiers escorted them from Bright Moon’s castle to what was left of the Whispering Woods. Seeing the damage again – earth damp from melting ice and snow, magnificent ancient trees shattered like glass, a virtual red carpet inviting Hordak’s forces in – brought a fresh wave of fury and desperation to Adora. To think she once thought the Horde was right, that they were instilling peace into a chaotic world. She had really been blind.

They moved along the border of the vegetation, more for practicality than respect, but Adora sent a silent apology to the forest anyway.

She had no idea where they were going, despite having studied the holomap plenty. No map would help someone in the woods. At least, it wouldn’t have, before the Horde had gotten to them. Now she doubted the magic that powered the life of the trees would be focused on anything other than healing.

She was silently grateful that they walked on even ground for now as any strenuous climbing would no doubt aggravate the healing scabs on her back. A pang of sadness squeezed her heart as she remembered why she had them. How fate forced their hands. A family torn apart in the span of a few weeks. From closest confidants to bitter enemies.

She tried to keep track of where they went after they took a turn inside, but it was hopeless. Powered by mysterious magic or not, the Whispering Woods still held true to their legend, for her at least. Bow kept sending pained solemn looks into the distance; it probably tore him apart inside to see the place he had grown up in so decimated. He stayed silent throughout the whole walk, while Glimmer swapped strategies and jokes with the leading soldier.

Eventually, the ground started to rise underneath their feet, at first a gentle sloping, but growing ever steeper. Adora pushed through the pain that throbbed on her back, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge where it came from. She had a mission, no time to think about the past or what could have been.

The soldiers stopped and turned back at a large tree overgrown with red leaves, reading something scratched into its trunk before heading back. Adora took it as a sign that they entered Faleanes territory. Glimmer realized this too and stopped them at a memorable grove of young bright saplings. Distantly Adora thought she could hear faint activity, likely a town.

“We’ll have to leave our weapons and anything recognizable here.” She told her friends, already reaching up and removing her shoulder guards and setting them under a thick bush along with her cape. Bow made a despairing sound as he lovingly hid his bow and quiver in the undergrowth.

Adora stared down at the sword in her hand, knowing she needed to leave it behind. They all needed to shed their armor and weapons to blend in. Civilians and travelers didn’t carry such high-ranking objects. But it was hard to let go of the sword that had nearly become a part of her. She was so much weaker without it. She was so much _less_ without it.

Adora inhaled a deep breath, reminding herself that it wasn’t true. She could trow a punch, she knew a dozen ways to subdue enemies with her bare hands. Her friends don’t think any less of Adora without She-Ra and anyone else didn’t matter.

She was still more confident with a magic sword though.

Adora lifted the side of a bush and slid the sword into the space it created, letting herself stare longingly at it for only a second. As she straightened she saw Glimmer plant tracking devices on three different trees. Bow waved a screen with blinking red and green dots on a map. They wouldn’t lose their stuff.

“Alright, now just one more thing.” Glimmer said, excitement clear in her voice, and bounded over to Bow, snatching something from his pocket. She turned to Adora and presented a bright pink (because everything in Bright Moon had to be pink) cloak. It was thin and airy and only reached to her knees so it wouldn’t get in the way in a fight, all qualities she had asked for. Adora still felt a tingle of apprehension as her friend wrapped it around her shoulders to hide the Horde symbol on her back.

The princess stepped back, circled her once and then nodded confidently. The other girl took it as confirmation that no one should recognize her. She tried to spin and see for herself, but only ended up making herself dizzy, much to Bow and Glimmer’s amusement.

They set off without further ado, following the din of sounds to what they hoped was a town.

The cloak was fine, Adora tried to tell herself, but she couldn’t help getting a jolt whenever she looked down and saw the glaringly obvious color instead of her red jacket. She had nothing against bright colors, but she didn’t like how much it might draw attention to her. To unwind herself, she mulled over what little information about their mission she had.

“Say, Glimmer, do we know anything about the princess of Faleanes?” She asked casually. It wouldn’t hurt to be prepared for what she might throw at them.

“Not much. I never met them, personally, since they cut themselves off long before I started sitting in on Rebellion meetings.” The princess and Bow both took on thoughtful expressions. “I think they actually had a queen, Tigria.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve heard about her. There are some funny stories floating around.” Bow exclaimed, chuckling at some rumor or another he heard. “Not much about her political ventures, but they all give her a short temper.”

Adora chewed on her lip, trying to slot this information into the image of the queen she was building in her head. If there were stories about her still, this Tigria must have been quite a spectacle. She might be a problem if she was quick to anger, especially since they were coming to beg for her help with nothing to barter with and nothing to back up their promises. They all had to be on their best behavior.

“I’m not sure if she’ll still be the one in charge now, actually.” Glimmer said with a hum. “She was already the queen back then, so she might have retired and left someone else in charge.”

And that proceeded to throw a wrench into Adora’s internal planning. An unknown princess that no one knew anything about was not what they needed. She frowned in thought; _someone has to know about her_.

“Did Queen Tigria have any children?” She asked.

“Yeah! She did. A little older than me I’m pretty sure. Mom wanted us to meet, I think.” Glimmer told them, face scrunching up in concentration.

“Did you?”

“No. I mean, not that I know of. I was really young, so maybe I didn’t connect it back then.”

The sound of voices joined their conversation, coming from the town ahead. Adora wanted to ask more questions, but Bow butted in before she could. “Let’s not talk about their queen when we’re just three happy travelers looking for directions, remember?”

The girls rolled their eyes as he threw his arms over their shoulders, but decided to drop the matter. Their friend grinned happily. “Great, now that that’s finished, why don’t we pick up the pace. I forgot to grab anything to eat back in the castle and, oh boy, am I–”

Adora jumped as Bow cut off with a dramatic gasp. His hands came up to clasp his cheeks and his eyes grew impossibly large. She followed his gaze – ignoring the low squealing he was making – and scanned the foliage in front of them.

The forest here seemed in much better condition than near Bright Moon, with no more signs of ice and trees still alive and recovering. Some flowers bloomed in clumps wherever sunlight fought through the thick canopy. It gave her hope that all of the Woods would recover.

Then something twitched in her periphery vision and her head snapped to the side, hackles rising. A golden furry tail was disappearing over a fallen tree trunk, its fur well-groomed and glossy. A pair of pointed ears the same color poked from the undergrowth, set atop a fluffy head.

_Some kind of feline?_

Adora relaxed her tense muscles and allowed a smile to cross her face. It was nice to see that life hadn’t fled from the forest completely. At her side, Glimmer ‘aww’ed at the cute small creature, hands coming up to her mouth.

The ears pricked up and swiveled in their direction for an instant, before the feline scampered further into the foliage. Glimmer and Bow grinned at each other and moved to keep walking, but Adora couldn’t pry her eyes away from the spot where it had been. Something about the way it had sunk into the leaves was so painfully familiar.

A second later, leaves rustled in the same place and a head popped up to face them. The being put its front limbs on the dead tree and pulled itself up to crouch on it. Except it wasn’t a cat face that they were presented with. _No_.

It was very distinctly human-like.

Whoever they were, they were just a child, definitely no more than ten and probably less. A messy crown of blond hair haloed their face, almost completely hiding the triangle ears. A long tail flicked behind them. The child was sitting on their haunches and hands, curious but ready to spring away. Their skin was close in color to their fur and hair. A pair of dark hazel eyes stared at them from an uncertain expression.

Breath almost instantly left Adora’s lungs, memories and emotions assaulting her mind. Memories of nights spent giggling under the blanket after lights-out, of annoying higher-ranking officers, of holding someone dear close to her when one of them fell, helping each other up. Adoration, protectiveness, safety, vulnerability, competitiveness, _a friend_.

But also of claws digging into her flesh, of jarring taunts and unfeeling glances. Anger, betrayal, desperation, shattered loyalty, an aching heart.

_Catra._

Unknowing, the ex-force captain took a step forward, hand reaching out for something that had been left behind a closed door. The child peered at the outstretched limb for a moment, then drew back, hissed and fled into the trees. Adora flinched back as though slapped, her mind replacing gold with brown and hazel with mismatched green and blue.

A hand on her shoulder kept her from chasing after the child, but her eyes remained wide and lost, hands coming up to clutch at her chest. Her friends’ voices slowly filtered into her understanding and she uncertainly turned to them, mind a million miles away.

She could hear Glimmer ask if she’s alright and feel Bow’s supporting hand on her shoulder, steadying her. Unsteadily, her awareness came back to her, shoving the past back where it belonged, behind the door in her mind that she kept locked at all times. This was worse than a punch to the gut, but she could get through it. Their mission was too important for her to break down in the middle of it.

She turned to her friends and gave them her best smile and a thumbs-up and they sighed with relief. As they enveloped her in their arms, she gazed dazedly at the lightly swaying branches where the child had brushed against them. She had to continue, the Rebellion was relying on their success here. She would fall apart and sift through this experience later.

They broke apart and after some more assurances, her friends deemed her well enough to continue. She kept her eyes firmly locked on the path ahead – if it would even be called a path – and soon, any intruding thoughts were chased away as the cacophony of voices talking merrily and objects clanging together grew loud. It seemed they were close to a marketplace or something similar. The people they heard were definitely civilians, not trained soldiers.

They broke through the last of the vegetation with a gasp of relief, all three of them picking thorns out of their exposed skin. Adora muttered under her breath as she pulled a rather big one out of her elbow, frowning at the bead of blood it left behind. Throwing it to the ground, she just barely ground to a halt to avoid crashing into Bow’s back.

Irritation sparking in her expression, she stepped around him to snap at him face-to-face, but instead came to a similar stop. A town stretched out in front of them, but unlike any town Adora had ever seen.

Instead of clearing away trees to make room, the houses and buildings wound around them like another part of the undergrowth, like they belonged there. Trees acted as walls, support beams and roofs everywhere, without the trees being hurt. The buildings were made out of some kind of clay and were humble, only one story each. Vines hung from every surface and stretched this way and that instead of ropes for hanging anything up.

When Adora looked up, she saw wooden paths held together with nothing more than vines that led from tree to tree, sometimes cutting off into ladders or ropes. Wedged between branches were platforms and swinging hammocks in clusters.

But the most impressive structure was in the middle of it all: a grove of thick ancient trees that leaned into each other and twisted their branches to form one giant plant. The space between them, sheltered from above by their massive crowns and circled by their trunks was hallowed out. From inside, a gentle glow illuminated their bark.

And everywhere Adora looked she laid eyes on more people with cat-like ears and tails.

How many nights had they spent talking about this? Imagining where they came from, making up ever more unbelievable stories about their parents and their homes. It had been their game, when they couldn’t sleep and talking about pleasant nothings became too flimsy a cover. It had eased the pain of not knowing, if only a little. She thought maybe one of Catra’s had actually been similar to this.

Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest as she remembered the snarky adventurous kid Catra had been, before she decided that making up stories about something they would never know was too silly and stopped. Adora had held their most intricate fantasies in memory, but so many years of focusing on training and never talking about it had made her recollection blurry, the details lost to time.

Before she could try to jolt her memory into remembering, Glimmer was striding forward like a soldier on a mission, grabbing Bow and Adora’s hands to make them follow. The ex-soldier noticed that Bow couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the civilians watching them curiously, expression bright with wonder.

_Huh, guess anybody would be amazed if they found out the woods they grew up in are home to a secret kingdom._

Her princess friend marched them straight to the towering interwoven trees, only stopping when a group of the inhabitants moved to swiftly intercept them.

“Halt!” One of them thrust a hand out to stop them while the others formed a half-circle behind her. They were all decked out in uniforms, some kind of armor that would do better at camouflaging them than protecting from weapons. The evident leader looked them over with narrowed eyes before speaking again. “State your business.”

Glimmer puffed out her chest and Adora could tell she was about to launch into a long-winded speech about recruiting their kingdom for the Rebellion. Thankfully, Bow’s free hand snapped up to cover her mouth before she could start and the archer grinned easily at them. They were supposed to be pretending to be civilians to scope out the situation, after all.

“We were just passing by and thought we would stop by this nice-looking village. Say, what’s it called? I haven’t ever heard of a village this deep in the Whispering Woods. Are you part of a kingdom? Don’t you have to be to have protection from the invading forces?” He fired the questions off easily, his entire demeanor approachable, but Adora could see the tenseness of his back and the tick in his fingers to reach for his absent bow.

The guards – for they could only be guards – gave him a suspicious once-over. All three friends tensed, wondering if they had stepped into a Horde-controlled area. There had been no sign of the Horde so far, but that didn’t mean they had no power here. Finally, they seemed to pass the head guard’s examination and she relaxed her posture, waving her squadron away.

Hesitating, the rest of them eyed the Best Friends Squad for a moment before shrugging their shoulders and dispersing. The leader approached them calmly, a terse smile on her face. She had short curly black hair and dark brown mottled ears and tail, which complimented her dark skin well. Her eyes were a sharp yellow.

She regarded them for a moment, Bow’s wide friendly grin, Adora’s slightly nervous wave and Glimmer’s simmering glare aimed at Bow, his palm still over her mouth. “This is no mere village. You have entered the kingdom of Faleanes.”

Bow gasped dramatically, removing his hand from Glimmer and clasping both of them in front of himself while his eyes twinkled. Glimmer made a show of wiping her mouth and Adora was left standing hesitantly to the side.

“Really? There’s another kingdom here? But why did we never hear of it? Is everything alright? You have the Evil Horde right on your doorstep and you’re still standing strong! How do you survive?”

The guard’s smile became forced as she tried to sift through Bow’s endless rambling, to the point that Glimmer slapped her forehead and returned Bow the favor of shoving her hand over his mouth to shut him up. All three of them watched the guard with varying degrees of trepidation; the last question was the most important one. If Faleanes was working with the Horde, they needed to know before they revealed their identities.

“Yes, Faleanes is this kingdom, but we’ve lost so much in the last decade and a half that this is all that’s left and we find it safer to keep knowledge of our existence to a minimum. After all, the Horde can’t hurt what they don’t know –”

“CAPTAIN SORA! What do you think you are doing?” The enraged shout split the air like thunder and all four of them jumped, the trio spinning to face the new person and the guard’s face paling with worry.

From the direction of the giant trees, a figure was storming to them, face the definition of fury. She was clad in a simple dull purple dress with long hanging sleeves and an intricate striped pattern. Her hair was a pale blond that looked nearly white, a pair of fluffy rounded snow-white ears sat on her head and a black tail with a white tip lashed behind her.

The head guard before them fell into a hasty bow before her, mumbling apologies as the newcomer pinned her with dark blue eyes. When she spoke, her voice was deadly calm. “You know the laws, _no one_ is to know of Faleanes if they came from the outside.”

Adora thought she heard her mumble something about finally changing the laws and taking a side, but she was dismissed too quickly to finish her thought. The guard, Sora, hurried away with a bitter “yes Regent Clawdia”. The newcomer put on a strained smile and turned to them.

“Who are you and how have you come to be here?” She skipped any pleasantries and pinned them with the same sapphire glare behind the fake smile.

The trio paused and exchanged looks. If this woman was the regent of Faleanes, then something must have happened to the queen and her daughter. That was not good news for them.

But then she was also the one they came to see. Bow and Adora stepped aside to let Glimmer negotiate. She was the one ready for this.

“Actually we came here looking for your kingdom.” She said in a diplomatically leveled voice. “I am Princess Glimmer of Bright Moon, this is Bow and Adora, who is –” Glimmer caught herself, eyes flickering to Adora’s bare back “– who are here as my escorts.”

 _Nice save_ , she congratulated her friend internally. Externally, she grimaced as she was reminded that without the sword, there was no She-Ra. They couldn’t claim to have She-Ra with no proof; regardless that proof was less than a twenty minute walk away. Regent Clawdia didn’t seem willing to let them leave with the knowledge they had. The plan had been that they would leave after they confirmed that the Horde hadn’t gotten hold of this kingdom and return as an official delegation.

Bow and Adora gave respectful bows then came to stand at Glimmer’s shoulders. “We’ve come to extend an invitation to join the Princess Alliance to the monarch of Faleanes.”

Regent Clawdia’s face soured with every word, but before she could shoot their offer down, another voice joined the conversation. “Didn’t the Princess Alliance fall apart with high death counts last time?”

The trio look over Clawdia’s shoulders to take in the five people coming to them. Two men and three women, all wearing unsure expressions and simple yet expensive-looking clothes. Clawdia gave them an acknowledging nod, then gestured to them for Bright Moon’s citizens. “This is the rest of the regency: Regents Lionella, Leorda, Lynxer, Caracal and Pantha.”

Adora, Bow and Glimmer bowed to each one in turn and introduced themselves again. With the greetings out of the way, Caracal voiced his question once more.

“Yes, but that was then. We know what mistakes they did and we won’t make them again.” Adora could see some of them visibly bristle. “The Horde is getting stronger, hiding from them won’t keep your people save, not forever.”

“It has served us well for a decade.”

Bow gazed at them solemnly. “Didn’t you see what the Horde did to the Whispering Woods?”

“The Woods will regenerate. They always do.”

“But not quickly enough! The Horde can do that again whenever they want. What’s stopping them from turning to entire Woods into ice and running them over?”

Lionella turned curious eyes on him, but her voice was flat and ginger ears pulled back. “So you know how the Horde did it?”

“Well, no.”

“So you have no proof that they can do it again. Or that it was them at all.” Pantha narrowed her gleaming green eyes at them.

“And you have no proof that they won’t do it again. You’re dooming your whole kingdom!” Glimmer snapped hotly. Instantly, her eyes widened and she schooled her features into a more neutral expression. The regent council outwardly glared at her.

Adora saw Bow move to placate them, arms up in a gesture of peace. But Adora wasn’t paying attention to them anymore. Instead, she was observing all the curious people that had gathered to watch them. _This is all that’s left of their entire kingdom?_ The Horde had truly made an impact on this kingdom. Despite the structure in the middle with what she assumed was the runestone, there were barely more houses and people than one of the villages around Bright Moon.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped to a seemingly random spot in the crowd, following some movement, but she only saw a brown tail weave through the people.  Thinking she was jumping at nothing, Adora started to turn back to the conversation, but  then  her gaze found a very familiar uniform among the passers-by. Standing out from the  unassuming brown and green clothes of the townspeople was dull red and  orange .

She snapped her attention upward and was shocked still as she gazed into Catra’s eyes.

The Horde force captain wasn’t paying her any attention, too busy gawking at everything around her.  Her ears were pulled back, arms hanging uselessly at her side and feet stumbling over each other, while she almost seemed to drink in the little town.  She bum ped into an older man and he grumbled irritably at her, but even though her ears twitched, she didn’t react.

A  few steps behind her was another familiar figure. Decked out in her signature dark reds, Scorpia paid equal attention to her fellow Horde soldier and the town.  The people cast cautious glances  at her and moved out of the way of her claws.

A pair of kids chased each other in their path, one of them crashing into Catra’s legs. Normally, Catra would glare and snarl,  and give the kid (or anyone, really) a few scratches to remember her by. Adora  c ould remember so many times that Catra had returned to their barracks beaten and bruised but positively glowing with pride of victory.  Now, she just stared as the little kid whimpered and back ed away, tail curled around his middle, ears flat on his skull and eyes wide.

Adora was aware that she should feel fear, or hate or at the very least apprehension at seeing a Horde operative in the Whispering Woods, especially the one who had orchestrated their destruction not so long ago, but seeing Catra so bewildered with wonder and slowly-blooming hope, she could only feel at peace. Not happy, she hadn’t been happy to see Catra in what felt like a lifetime, but not hateful either.

Her back throbbed in remembrance as though claws were tearing through her skin over and over, but a familiar warmth tugged at her heart. Enemies or not, Catra had been her best friend first, her partner in crime, and nothing could ever break what they had forged in those years, no matter how wide the chasm between them grew. She just wished Catra could see it too.

Someone tapped her elbow and Adora spun back to the conversation she was supposed to be paying attention to.  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Scorpia grab Catra gently by the elbow and point in their direction. Then she had to focus on Bow  as he invaded her personal space .

“Adora, did you hear?” He asked quietly and behind him she could see Glimmer conversing with the council. Right, they had a mission. She could be glad that Catra found her home later.

“No, sorry.” She said back just as quietly. “The Horde is here.”

S he saw him tense like a drawn bow string  (no pun intended) , eyes scanning over her shoulder. Catra would have been impossible to pick out for anyone other than her, but Scorpia towered over the crowd like a giant. Except now she wasn’t in the crowd anymore, she was casually walking  up to them, Catra in tow.

Glimmer noticed them at the last second and she froze mid-word. A scathing look took over her features as the two Horde  soldiers sauntered near.  Surprisingly, it was Scorpia who took the lead.

“Hey, sorry to butt in like this, but we really need to know if this is a kingdom. With a runestone perhaps?” She didn’t even try to be subtle, though with a kingdom that had been cut off for years it might not be necessary. They probably didn’t know how important runestones had become.

“With all due respect, Regents, you shouldn’t answer that. They’re from the Horde.” Glimmer interjected angrily.

“Ah, regents. So this _is_ a kingdom, just without a monarch. Thanks shortstuff.” Scorpia said cheerily and Adora had to physically grab hold of Glimmer’s arm to keep her from attacking. They wouldn’t win a fight without their weapons and bystanders might get hurt. Scorpia turned to the regents, who watched the exchange impassively. Instantly, she looked less like a soldier and more like the princess that she was. “I’m Princess Scorpia, representing Lord Hordak. Me and my friend have come to investigate the origin of the regeneration of the Whispering Woods.”

A dora m e ntally rolled her eyes in exasperation.  _Translation: we’re here with an army and want to stop the Woods from healing_ . She really hated politics and diplomacy.

The regents’ faces twitched, expressions pinched as they regarded Scorpia.  _They must be having a really bad day. Two princesses from the two main sides of the war discovering their kingdom in one day? Not the_ _w_ _ay to stay hidden._

Still, they held their diplomatically welcoming air. Clawdia stepped forward and spread her arms wide. “We welcome you, Princess Scorpia, to the kingdom of Faleanes.”

Scorpia grinned brightly. “I thank you and gladly accept your generous invitation.”

This time, Adora did roll her eyes. It was painfully obvious neither side meant what they said.

“If I may,” the princess from the Horde ventured, “if there is a regent council, what happened to the monarch?”

The air all around them grew somber, heads being lowered in a respectful silence. It lasted long enough for the visiting five to grow uncomfortable, glancing at each other in a rare moment of mutual uncertainty. Then one of the regents stepped up to Clawdia’s shoulder – Lynxer, Adora was fairly certain – to answer the question and Adora snapped back to reality.

“Maybe that is not information you should share with the enemy.” She tried to caution, but was clearly taken the wrong way, judging by the dark looks they were shooting her. Glimmer sucked in a breath next to her.

“There is no enemy to us.” Leorda said frostily and Adora was suddenly very aware of just how tall and muscular the regent was. She might have been eye-to-eye with She-Ra. “And I suggest that if you have past grievances to sort through, you do it _outside_ our borders.”

“Regent Lio–Leorda,” Adora was clearly not the only one who had trouble remembering their names, but Glimer recovered in time. “There will be no aggression from our side, but I implore you to think what the Horde has done. It isn’t smart to share sensitive information with them.”

“We shared it with you. Bright Moon’s as much to blame as the Horde.” Lynxer muttered under his breath and Glimmer wilted under his sharp gaze a little. Caracal gave him a hard nudge to shut him up.

“Unfortunately, Queen Tigria has passed in battle eleven years ago.” Pantha informed them.

Catra’s ears lifted ever so slightly as her eyes finally rested on the regents. She seemed to be coming back to herself slowly.

“Didn’t she have any relatives?” Scorpia asked, what Adora was sure was fake concern in her voice.

“Her only daughter has been stolen two years prior to that by the Horde.” Even Scorpia seemed genuinely sorry at that. “They threatened her harm if Faleanes didn’t retreat from the Alliance. Queen Tigria did and we have not seen the princess since. It terrifies me to think what could have been done to her, but I can only hope she had been put to rest without pain.”

Adora found it hard to breathe as the information settled like a heavy rock in her heart. The taste of bile filled her mouth as she thought of a young princess, probably too young to even know about the war, snatched from her home. And the queen had followed their demands, so why hadn’t they sent the poor kid home? Had they really killed her to get rid of her royal bloodline?

She could see Glimmer shaking with anger, no doubt remembering her own capture and imprisonment at Shadow Weaver’s hands.

Bow hung his head for a moment in acknowledgment of their grief and loss, before moving on. “But shouldn’t it be possible to connect someone else to the runestone and start a new bloodline? I mean, I’ve heard it can be done, right?” He looked to Glimmer for confirmation and the princess nodded mutely.

Clawdia shook her head. “The queen’s aunt is still alive and able. But she can’t forge a connection to the Tiger’s Eye and she’s too old to truly hold the throne.”

Glimmer had mentioned that could happen. Supposedly if a child was kept from their runestone, they might lose the ability to connect to it. Some were more susceptible to it than others, while a rare few could connect to it even in their older years.

“Yea, these here regents thought it might be better if I just lived out my years in peace while they ruled. They’ll pick someone for my successor after I’m gone.” The crowd parted to let an old person through. Adora assumed this was the aunt, even if her voice sounded more male. She had a rather small stature, a little on the pudgy side. Long graying hair cascaded over her back and her eyes held a welcoming air.

“Ms Whiskers!” A child’s voice came from the crowd, to the amusement of everyone else. Adora simply raised an eyebrow. ‘Ms Whiskers’ smiled widely at the outsiders’ bewildered expressions.

“Ah, yes. Most of the folk here call me simply Elder, but the children really took to the nickname.” She laughed heartily.

“Why? Don’t you have a name?” Catra finally spoke up, but her voice was much quieter than usual, lacking its biting bitter edge for once. Well, mostly.

“Oh, little cub. The name my parents gave me wasn’t right.” She turned to the Horde commander slowly, as if she had trouble quite finding her. “You see, a male name cannot fit a woman–”

She cut herself off the moment her eyes rested on Catra, making the teenager’s face draw into a guarded frown. The elder mumbled under her breath, one hand rising up as if to reach for Catra. Her eyes were blown wide with disbelief.

“You, you have her eyes.” She murmured with amazement.

“Oh, my dear, you look just like our poor lost princess.”

It was as if every thought was frozen by those words, every head spinning to look at Catra with wide eyes, gaping mouths and shocked expressions. But Adora was certain that in that moment no one was any more shaken than Catra herself.


	2. Scorpia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the Battle of Bright Moon behind them and the Whispering Woods miraculously healing, Catra's window of opportunity to launch an attack unhindered is closing. When Entrapta pinpoints the origin of their problems, Catra and Scorpia uncover some truths they weren't expecting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 weeks until season 2 and I'm now getting to my feet and starting chapter 2. Well, it's here whether people will read it or not.  
> Whoever gives this time, thank you and enjoy!

Scorpia almost felt like skipping as she casually strolled through the Fright Zone’s green-lit corridors. She had just made a stop in the main base’s kitchens for food and was carrying a tray full of deliciousness. Generally, food was regarded as a necessity, not for pleasure, so rations were always tasteless and monotonous, to spare the effort and money it would take to get spices and variety. But every once in a while, Scorpia could plead with the delivery workers and weasel something rare from of them. She wasn’t sure if Hordak was aware of it, but she’d been doing it regularly for years, so she assumed he knew and was willing to turn a blind eye to it in favor of her successes.

This time, she had been greeted with the smell of fresh baked goods and left with a whole meatloaf. It was as big as her claws and made her mouth water.

On the way to her quarters, she had been showered with dust and a leaf of paper from an air duct and with a roll of her eyes, changed her course to the Black Garnet Chamber. The note in her hand was empty of words and crumpled, with only nonsensical equations fitting into corners, but she knew her crew well enough to recognize Entrapta’s footsteps in the vent (the fact that she was the only one who used the vents instead of hallways was a dead giveaway).

Shadow Weaver’s former work space had been given to them by Hordak to serve as their personal meeting room and Entrapta’s enhanced lab. Once upon a time, Scorpia wouldn’t have been found anywhere near the room with the runestone unless summoned, but ever since Catra took over, she found herself gravitating towards it more and more.

Now she stepped over the threshold with none of the apprehension of before, a grin splitting her face as Entrapta’s excited rambling and Catra’s distracted ‘hmm’s echoed around the room. She set her tasty prize on a relatively free surface and turned to address the motley crew she found herself a part of. “Heya! Look what I snatched from the delivery!”

Entrapta’s head popped up from behind a tangle of cables and machinery to wave enthusiastically, but she didn’t move to abandon her work. Catra looked over her shoulder to acknowledge the force captain, then returned to studying whatever she had displayed on the largest monitor.

“So, you guys know how food here’s always ridiculously bland? Of course you do, everybody knows, but it’s practical and whatnot. But, guess what?” Scorpia was nearly bouncing around the room as she grabbed the plate she had spent hours bartering and pleading for. “Those guys who run the delivery to everywhere in the Fright Zone, they really like me. And I talked them into getting me a little something.”

She bounded over to Entrapta, deftly avoiding the other princess’ long hair, and presented her with the delicacy. The purple-haired girl’s nose scrunched up in concentration as she tried to ignore the treat, but the moment she fitted whatever part she was tinkering with on right, she spun around and stared at the meatloaf with wide eyes. Her purple irises downright twinkled.

“Ooohh! That smells like exactly the kind of food I’ve been missing. Something properly spiced and not mushy. Mushy food is so bad, even worse than solid large foods!” She exclaimed as she scrutinized the dish before her. Scorpia grimaced with sympathy. After the bright life of a princess, full of variety and choice, it was hard to get used to the military ways of the Horde. But while the mush they got for every meal might be tasteless, it was packed full of the nutrients a soldier needed, at least according to the scientists who created it. Scorpia herself never really cared, because eating that so often made her rare exotic dishes that much tastier.

“Hmm, this is pretty big. Too big for one bite. I don’t suppose there are any small foods here? Those would be much more preferred.” Entrapta muttered unhappily, her hair snaking up to prod the food.

“I can cut it into smaller pieces for you.” Scorpia offered easily. The other princess brightened up instantly, beaming up at the white-haired girl’s face as they set about cleaning a spot on a machine.

Scorpia took the silverware she was given and split the meatloaf into three parts. She separated them onto three plates and with practiced ease cut one of the thirds into little cubes. Despite lacking fingers, she had became quite deft with silverware over time. Entrapta descended on her portion as soon as Scorpia passed it over with a grin.

“Hey, Catra, want me to cut yours too?” She asked over her shoulder, only to jump when she spotted the second-in-command leaning over her. She sniffed the air, then shifted away from the princesses.

“No. I’ll get the standard food.” Catra said curtly, but her eyes stayed glued to the dish. Hesitantly, she turned around to go back to the monitor. Scorpia grabbed her plate and followed curiously.

“Finish it quickly, we have a mission.” Her superior informed her, hands on her hips and eyes scanning some form of map on the screen. It displayed a bird’s eye view of the Whispering Woods, with the Fright Zone and Bright Moon marked in their separate corners. The land was drawn with green contour lines like all Horde-issued maps, but over it was a strange grid of pulsing red circles. Scorpia couldn’t really make out much from it, but she guessed that they would have to investigate the origin of those readings.

She stuffed a large bite into her mouth as they both studied the map. The circles – some kind of energy she assumed – seemed to gather in one place deep in the Whispering Woods, to the east of both Bright Moon and the Fright Zone and in what she thought might be the gemstone mountains. _Huh, I think I’ve heard something about those._

She couldn’t really dwell on it before Entrapta bounded over to them and dove into a fresh enthusiastic rant. “Catra has asked me to keep a close eye on the Whispering Woods to monitor their state and within hours I found out that they are healing at an exponentially fast rate. It will take months at least before they are even close to what they were, but the fact that they are regenerating at all is amazing!

“I’ve also been monitoring the other runestones since my experiment through the energy they give off, to document the lasting effects of forcefully altering the flow of power within the grid. Most of them progressed according to my expectations, but a new signature appeared just a few hours ago. Almost instantly after the Black Garnet’s power finally returned to its normal levels and its fluctuations ceased.”

Scorpia ate silently as she tried to filter through the assault of words. As much as she liked the other princess, understanding her when she was in the heat of a new discovery was like learning a new language on the fly. Said princess disregarded her cubes of meatloaf in favor of hoisting herself up by her hair closer to the screens.

“Personally, I expected it to be an energy created from the collisions of the unusually large outputs of the other runestones, but Catra convinced me to analyze it properly and you would not believe the results!” Scorpia saw their superior’s eye twitch, but for once she kept quiet as Entrapta continued her insistent monologue. “It is an entirely new energy! Now pinpointing its origin without my standard equipment was a challenge, but nothing exceptionally hard. After I separated the natural fluctuations and the wavelengths of the other runestones, unusual from their effort to right the balance, I found evidence–”

“That there’s a runestone in the Whispering Woods. And might be responsible for them healing.” Catra butted in. She scowled at the map, ignoring Entrapta’s disgruntled frown behind her. A second later, she perked up, grabbed her plate of food and bounced back to her machines, leaving the second-in-command and senior force captain in privacy.

“Wait, hold that thought a sec. Wouldn’t a runestone mean that there’s a princess with a kingdom there too?” Scorpia asked, mind racing at light speed. _No one ever said anything about a princess in the Woods. Shouldn’t we be focusing on them instead of Bright Moon?_

“Exactly. The Horde has absolutely no record of there being a kingdom in the Whispering Woods.”

The princess frowned thoughtfully. That didn’t make sense. The Horde documented every enemy they came across and kept the information even after the threat was defeated. If they had taken over an entire kingdom, Hordak would no doubt have turned it into a secondary base and expanded the Fright Zone. He would have scientists working with the new runestone or at least Shadow Weaver would visit there regularly to oversee operations. If their forces had been pushed back, there would be an ongoing siege happening that would require foot soldiers and resources and the cadets would be drilled on the kingdom’s defense system and made to memorize its layout.

But the Horde was acting as if this threat right on their doorstep didn’t exist.

“How did we miss it when it’s right on our border?” She muttered out loud, some distant blurry memory just out of reach in her mind. Sitting over a holo-screen in the dark after lights-out, reading about enemy princesses. Something about the Whispering Woods had kept popping up in the reports she was being tested on.

“They’re really good at hiding.” Catra answered, tail lashing in agitation. Then she smirked. “But that also means they’re cowards. Our squads pass right under their noses all the time. There’s never been a peep from this princess.”

That was true; from what Scorpia could read off of the map, the kingdom would be situated somewhere in the middle of the gemstone mountains, a massive rocky formation with a relatively even top, like some sort of plateau. They were an inconvenience, since soldiers had to move around them, losing precious time and sometimes the element of surprise, but were of no real concern. However, if the newly-formed Princess Alliance got hold of whoever ran the kingdom there, the Horde would be put at an uncomfortable disadvantage.

It was a good thing Entrapta discovered them before that could happen. This way, Catra and Scorpia could gather up a platoon of soldiers, a few tanks and robotic support and flush the princess out before they knew what hit them. Hordak would be pleased if they managed to take out a threat as big as a princess, especially if she ended up knowing about the Whispering Woods.

 _K_ _nowing about the Woods._ Why did that sound so familiar?

“I thought that kingdom was gone.” Scorpia suddenly said, cutting through the silence like a blade. Both other girls snapped their attention to her, one gaze confused, the other razor sharp. The red princess grinned sheepishly as soon as she registered their looks, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “I think I read something about them back when I first became a cadet. There was a big hurrah about a kingdom being taken out.”

Catra’s eyes narrowed. “That’s impossible. I looked through the files on all of Horde’s enemies, as well as the recorded military history, but there’s not so much as a mention of any princess being taken out.”

“Yeah, it was definitely something about a kingdom in the Woods. Everyone thought it would be a break in the stalemate. I think that was before the first Alliance broke up.”

“Uh, Scorpia, every cadet has to know the history of the Alliance by heart and I couldn’t have cared less about that, but I passed those tests. A kingdom this close to the Fright Zone would be the biggest part of that.”

That was a very solid point. Even though they had managed to push against the Rebellion, never was a princess taken out, at least not one that still held the throne. And if the kingdom was a threat, they would know. So what was it that she had read back then? Man, it had been a long time since she was a trainee and she had been young then, maybe she had misunderstood the situation?

“Hold up, that had to have happened what, a decade ago? How did you search through all the data in a couple hours?” There was no way she checked all of that thoroughly enough. Even a whole team would need more than a day.

“Hmm? Oh, Entrapta helped.” _Nevermind._ _That princess could_ _beat_ _a dozen teams._

“And Hordak would not let a kingdom go for any reason.” Scorpia finished their earlier thought. She looked away from the screen to watch her superior carefully. Catra’s brows were pinched together, mouth pulled into a contemplative line.

“What are you thinking?” She asked carefully.

“Someone doesn’t want this kingdom known.” The feline girl’s answer came slowly, as though her mind was already three steps ahead of the conversation. “And Hordak would notice if suddenly everybody stopped focusing on the closest target. He had to have known it existed, so why would he not bother with it now?”

“Maybe they’re just not a problem anymore?” Yeah, okay, she deserved that deadpan look. A threat or no, there would be records of them. There were records of Scorpia’s kingdom and they had never even fought against the Horde.

“Hordak knows about it.” Catra declared confidently. “And he’s hiding it.”

“Woah, slow down. You think Hordak is trying to protect a princess?” Scorpia barely whispered the suggestion. This kind of talk would not be tolerated in the Horde. Catra was stepping into dangerous territory just implying it; especially since the Lord of the Horde seemed to have ears everywhere.

“Don’t know.” The second-in-command paused, ears twitching, then looked up into the rafters sharply. Scorpia lifted her gaze, but it was too dark to see anything. Catra clearly didn’t find whatever she heard either, because she continued on without worry. “But we shouldn’t mention that we found it.”

Scorpia’s throat closed up and she nervously swallowed, feeling her appetite leave her despite the meatloaf still left before her. That sounded like a very bad idea. A stupidly stubborn pride-driven idea. “Are, are you sure?”

“Hordak wants to see results and the stalemate broken. How we get it done is up to us.” Catra pushed a button under the screens and set them to stand-by, hiding the grid they would be following. She turned on her heel and marched for the door.

“Eat and get ready. We’ll leave at noon.” _That’s barely an hour away!_ Scorpia cried internally. As if hearing her thoughts, the other girl paused with one foot over the threshold and glared at them over her shoulder. “We have to be quick so no one hears about this, got it? Scorpia, you’re coming with me, but don’t bring any soldiers. Entrapta stays here.”

Entrapta gave a distracted ‘hmm’ in response and Scorpia saluted with her fork. It would work out, she tried to tell herself. Catra already had a plan in mind and with the two of them, there was nothing they couldn’t do! Lord Hordak would probably be satisfied with their progress when they came back, just like he had been after the failed assault on Bright Moon.

If they stopped the Whispering Woods from ever healing, then they wouldn’t be pressed to conquer Bright Moon on a deadline. He knew how to see the value in small progress like that.

Reassured, the princess reached for a drink from the tray, only for her claw to grasp empty air. Looking over it curiously, she groaned as she realized that she had forgotten to grab anything other than the food. Leaning her head out the door, she hollered after the Catra’s retreating figure. “Catra, are you heading for food?!”

Catra looked over her shoulder and replied in the affirmative, causing Scorpia to beam. “Can you grab me a drink while you’re there?”

To her dismay, the other girl only snorted and turned away. “You can get it yourself!”

Scorpia pouted in the doorway and ducked back inside. As much as she wanted to, she wasn’t about to leave her food unattended for even a second. She had spent too much time and dignity on it to have it stolen by a cheeky cadet or a jealous soldier.

Resigned, she instead grabbed one of Entrapta’s water bottles filled with sweetened water. She had quickly learned that the younger princess would not leave her inventions for any reason, so she regularly brought the sugar-packed water for her to drink and stash in the lab. Why she wanted her water that ridiculously-tasting, Scorpia would never understand, but she went with it.

Grimacing at the taste, she made herself gulp it down to soothe her dry throat. To distract herself from it as she cleaned off her plate, she thought to the feline girl who she had grown close to in so short. As she had told Entrapta, she really thought that they had made a connection over their adventures, even if Catra was hesitant to accept it.

But then again, she was so bitter about everything, always pushing forward, regardless of what happened. It didn’t matter if they won or lost, if she got knocked down or won the fight. Catra kept going until she had to stop from exhaustion, leaving no time or energy for emotions. Scorpia knew that was her intention, but it saddened her nonetheless, especially when she remembered the grin on the younger girl’s face in the hours before the Princess Prom.

Despite her toe-tapping and arm-crossing, she had smiled and laughed and been careful with her words when assessing Scorpia’s dresses. That had to be the only time that the red princess had seen the other girl be genuinely happy.

Other than then, all anyone saw from Catra were unhappy frowns or stone-cold expressions with the occasional mocking laugh and furious snarl when something actually got to her. But through it all – the hisses, the teeth-grinding snark, her closed-off heart – Scorpia felt like the only one who truly saw Catra for who she was. She wasn’t some heartless war lord or prick who thought she was better than everyone.

Instead, the princess saw a lonely girl who had been slapped in the face by fate and had all her emotions exploited by the one who meant the world to her, accidentally or not. She was how Catra forcefully pushed away any affections she felt for anyone, putting her shattered heart back together with razor wire. Scorpia had decided from their first mission together that she would be there for the feline girl, through the demeaning quips and angry glares, until her walls finally went down and she would be ready to begin healing.

But then there were those few times when Scorpia had been witness to Catra’s worst outbursts and she couldn’t see a hurting lonely girl, only Hordak’s prized commander. It made her worry that she wouldn’t find her way to recovery in time, that her new friend would only spiral down until there was nothing left to save.

But then, what was she really expecting? Scorpia had thrown her lot in with the Horde, but she wasn’t blind to what it did to people. Everyone was constantly encouraged to became exactly like that: an unfeeling, pragmatic soldier whose only goal was following Hordak’s will. Scopia might have been spared from that, but other cadets, ones without a princess’ upbringing, were shaped into the perfect soldiers before they saw their first battlefield.

But that didn’t matter, because now Catra had her and Entrapta and they would help her out of the dark place where her mind had gone, they would bring back the mischievous bright child that Scorpia had seen around base a few times years back. It would take time, she knew that, but she thought that maybe she was already scraping away the top layers of the walls that Catra had built around her heart.

When the girl came to collect her baton and a holo-screen half an hour later, Scorpia was surprised. Since when did she use a Horde-issued weapon? But then she saw the bottle and cup sitting innocently on a bare machine and she couldn’t stop beaming.

She cheered to herself as she drank half the bottle in one gulp, ignoring Entrapta’s confused gaze.

* * *

One thing that Scorpia had forgotten to account for was the steep climb on the trek to their destination. With the ground slick with melting ice and mud, not to mention all the carnage the snowstorm had left behind, it was ten times harder than any simulation the Horde drill-master could cook up. The trees were barely standing, branches snapped off without warning and plummeted to the ground and brittle undergrowth shattered under their fingers. Everything was either dead or dying, bark colored dark from frost and leaves drooping like soaking rags.

Regardless of how well it had aided them in their conquest, Scorpia couldn’t help the worry and guilt that snaked into her mind. These woods might have been used as a military deterrent by the princesses, but they had still been a beautiful part of Etheria’s nature and home to countless creatures. Now they looked and felt more like a graveyard, silent and completely absent of any fauna. And that was just the Woods; destruction had hit every kingdom separately in a different way, but all of them had taken it hard.

Maybe it was simply her princess roots speaking, but she couldn’t feel accomplished if reaching their goal cost so many people and creatures so much.

Catra, walking ahead of the princess and sparing the dying ecosystem no regard, led the way with a malfunctioning holo-screen and a steady string of quiet curses. The display sparked and cut to static constantly, making the second-in-command growl out loud. Scorpia considered offering to take the lead, but she doubted she would fare much better with the Horde’s glitchy tech.

They advanced steadily through the vegetation and quickly, Scorpia started to see a change in the atmosphere. The ground warmed up, the trees gained some color and leaves stayed green instead of brown. The Woods seemed to have taken a harder hit on the outskirts than the middle and the damage became less and less obvious the deeper in they went.

Internally, Scorpia sighed with relief, even if it all meant that the Horde would be hard-pressed to find another way through the Woods. At least the planet would recover. Cautiously, she glanced at Catra’s back, wondering if she was relieved or annoyed at the development. Was she glad the damage wasn’t permanent? Or was she worried that Hordak might pressure her into attacking the Rebellion while they still could?

She wanted to believe that Catra was concerned about the well-being of the planet as much as her own, but her logical mind was leaning more to the belief that Catra was only worried about Hordak’s opinion. That was, after all, the way of the perfect soldiers.

When they finally came across any sign of civilization, it was a town, pitifully small and woven into the trees inconspicuously. The huts and homes were simple and numerous, interconnected with well-worn paths in the grass and wooden walkways suspended above their heads. If it weren’t for the massive tree-made-up-of-smaller-trees peeking up above everything else, she wouldn’t give it a second thought. But that kind of structure could have only been created with the influence of a runestone.

While they headed towards it, Scorpia took the time to appreciate the architecture. Whoever built these homes had managed to do it without harming a single tree; the walkways were unevenly made from already broken-off branches and the vines that tied them together were still alive. Idly, she wondered if it made the whole thing sturdier.

When she spotted the inhabitants, she knew that even if it wasn’t the kingdom they came for, Catra wouldn’t be leaving right away. If not by her own choice, then because Scorpia would hold her there.

The people were like Catra.

She didn’t know much about her friend’s upbringing or her life before she became a force captain, but from what she had managed to glean from various conversations, she had been raised by Shadow Weaver alongside Adora. Those two were as close to family as she had ever had, and they were beyond estranged from each other now. Scorpia had wondered what happened to Catra’s original family, but never wanted to bring it up, afraid that it would only stir up painful memories and feelings.

But one thing she was well aware of was that no one knew where Catra came from. Oh there were theories and rumors sold as the truth, but nothing more. Being raised in the heart of the military base, Shadow Weaver’s two wards were well-known, even if they tended to keep to themselves; many soldiers had ended up on the receiving end of their pranks. With Adora, there was at least the official story that the dark sorceress had found her as an abandoned baby and saw her potential to bring the Horde to glory. Flat and lacking important information, but it was there.

Catra had just appeared one day as a little kid and been hanging around Adora ever since.

The girl in question had stopped at the first building they came across and was staring ahead with wide blank eyes. Her arms hung limply at her sides and her expression stayed transfixed and unresponsive, like a computer that had run into a processing error. _And now I sound like Entrapta._

Moving with tense robotic movements, Catra walked into the town with all the trepidation of someone facing the gallows. Scorpia followed behind her, caught between being a good soldier and being a friend. She should remind her superior why they came and urge her to continue their mission, but her heart stopped her from taking away this precious moment.

Instead, she threw her claws around the shorter girl’s middle and squeezed her in happiness, though gentler than usual. For once, Catra didn’t fight her embrace immediately and Scorpia cheerfully squealed in her ear. “Oh, you found your birthplace!”

That seemed to bring the usually-prickly girl a little back to herself as she wiggled her way out of the hug and made a show of dusting herself off.

“There’s no reason this should be any more special than any other kingdom.” She bit out, but her eyes jumped all around her, mouth parting a little in amazement as she absorbed all the things around her. Things that, by all accounts, were a part of her history and were heirlooms of her ancestors.

As Catra admired her surroundings with no small amount of wonder and something softer, something vulnerable, the princess gently guided her around people and trees. A couple of children chased themselves into their path, one of them crashing into Catra. He scrambled back with hasty apologies and worried eyes, but the older feline only stared at him as if she was seeing a ghost.

He gave a sloppy bow with a final ‘sorry’, then bolted around them and after his friend. The Horde commander turned to gaze after him with lost eyes, no threats or hisses on her tongue. Scorpia would have left her to take in the foreign world they found themselves in for the whole day if she could, but something purple among a crowd of green- and brown-clad natives caught her attention.

There, standing in a circle of curious villagers and talking to a group of important-looking people, was Bright Moon’s outspoken short princess. The dark-skinned archer who couldn’t seem to let go of his crop tops was standing at her shoulder. A blond figure in a knee-length bright pink cloak stood with them and it took Scorpia a second to recognize it as Adora. The velvet cloth hid her white shirt and the Horde’s blood-red mark on its back and the sheer ridiculousness of seeing the no-nonsense ex-soldier in something that bright gave her pause.

Giving a resigned sigh, she took hold of Catra’s elbow and steered her to what she assumed was a confrontation taking place. They could learn whether they were in the right place. The shorter girl followed without protest, her vulnerable expression squeezing Scorpia’s heart painfully and making her hopes soar. Maybe Catra was still the same person as before Adora left.

The mass of people parted as soon as they stepped to the edge, many of them eyeing Scorpia’s claws, tail and red spiked shoulders uneasily. One teenager swore under his breath as he scrambled away from her, glaring spitefully after her. Steeling her determination, reminding herself over and over that she was on a mission, the princess tried to ignore their wary eyes and distrustful frowns as she led her companion to the Bright Moon citizens.

It had been a long time since someone had looked at her with such distaste, so long that she had forgotten just how much it hurt. It reminded her of all the other princesses and made her appreciate her little crew that much more. No one in the Horde really cared what she looked like, so long as it didn’t hinder their operations – one of the reasons why she liked the place, no one got special treatment for things they couldn’t control – but they still avoided her at most times. But Catra and Entrapta? They didn’t shy away; Entrapta hugged her and sat with her willingly and Catra came to her when she needed to vent, calling her _trustworthy_.

Her resolve hardened as she was reminded of the shell-shocked commander beside her. Scorpia might have found her place in the world, if not the perfect one then the place where she was the happiest, but her friend was still looking. Whether she liked it or not, Scorpia would stand with her for the journey and the first step was supporting her as she got acquainted with her birthplace.

Preoccupied with her thoughts as she was, she missed the first part of the conversation, only coming back to herself when she saw Adora’s eyes lock on the two of them. The traitor’s expression froze somewhere between pity and anger, before one of her allies caught her attention.

Squaring her shoulders, Scorpia marched right to them, subtlety be damned. Sliding skillfully into the conversation, the princess assessed at the Bright Moon citizens. They were all tense, shoulders raised and fingers twitching for weapons. Weapons they didn’t have, Scorpia realized upon a double take. In fact, except the short princess’ sparkly hair and the archer’s golden clothes, they were practically unrecognizable and completely unarmed.

Even Adora’s precious sword was nowhere in sight.

Scorpia’s mouth ran on autopilot, old buried ethics lessons taking over, letting her conscious brain keep a close eye on her companion. She filed all the information she was getting away for later, whether to write a report or help Catra plan their next move. The commander herself didn’t look like she was going to remember much from this mission, her expression blank with a spark of wonder and ears flat on her skull.

It wasn’t until the queen’s aunt entered the scene that Scorpia gave the situation her full attention. And she was glad she did, when the throne-holder uttered an impossible comparison.

“Oh, dear, you look just like our poor lost princess.”

Close as she was to Catra’s side, Scorpia could feel her tense, her entire body going rigid as if frozen in ice. Her arms snapped to her sides, legs and back straightened like rulers and face paled drastically. Her expression caught between a hateful glare and hesitant awe.

The elder’s wizened hand reached for Catra’s face, fingers curling gently over her cheek. The teenager jerked back as though slapped, mouth pulling into a snarl as she batted the offending limb away, a hand grasping the electric baton clipped to her belt. Scorpia moved to intercept the two, stopping her superior from actually attacking and the old woman from pressing her advance. Over her head, she saw Adora’s bewildered expression and her companions’ battle-ready stances.

The regents, and every other face Scorpia could see, were shocked still and she could practically hear the gears in their brains working. Shifting, she sought to hide Catra from their sight with her body, but that didn’t stop an uproar of disbelieving murmurs from exploding in the crowd. One of the regents, with near-white hair and black-and-white tail – Scorpia had no idea who was called what – stepped forward, expression pinched and distrusting.

“You aren’t from Faleanes, are you?” She questioned, voice hard. Catra’s ears perked up and a moment later, she pushed past Scorpia with a stubborn glare on her face. Her tail lashed in annoyance when every eye followed her.

“No and I sure as hell am not a princess.” She snapped, the hope from before wiped from her face.

The mass of people recoiled as one, as if physically slapped by the venom in her words. The regents narrowed their eyes and whispered among themselves. Catra glared around herself furiously, her lips curling back to bare her teeth. Scorpia’s gaze flitted around in worry, taking in the antsy crowd, the regency’s suspicious expressions and Bright Moon’s protegee trio’s wary postures. Multiple figures dressed in lightweight armor approached them, spreading out to surround them. Judging from Catra’s quiet hissing, she spotted them too.

The tensions were running high; the next offense, however minuscule, would set off a fight.

Plastering a bright smile on her face and boldly putting a claw on Catra’s shoulder, she seamlessly inserted herself into the silent confrontation. “That’s Catra, the second-in-command of the Horde. She’s with me.” The gathering soldiers tensed at the information and Adora looked like she’d been slapped, but the regents themselves seemed to be put to ease slightly. Scorpia didn’t dare look down to see the glare Catra was no doubt giving her, instead she slowly removed her claw and lowered her voice to a whisper.

“We gotta play this right. So, smile!” She instructed, keeping her own body language open and nonthreatening. The second-in-command looked two seconds from clawing someone’s eyes out, but she lowered her shoulders and stopped glaring.

“I apologize for the misunderstanding. I’m the top Commander of the Horde’s military forces.” Catra put a relatively pleasant expression on and stepped forward with one hand outstretched. The black-and-white regent grasped it in a firm handshake. “Regent Clawdia of Faleanes.”

As soon as Catra stepped back and the rest of the regents had introduced themselves, the princess of Bright Moon rushed forward, placing herself at the regent’s right shoulder like an annoying adviser. “Regent Clawdia, we can all understand the similarities between your princess and her, but she is responsible for all the destruction on Etheria in the last week. A princess would never allow that to happen, much less organize it.”

“Honey, I’m a princess and I was right at her shoulder.” Scorpia snapped and winced before she even finished talking. _Yeah, way to sound like a destruction-happy maniac_ , she thought with a cringe. The destruction they had caused was something she was still conflicted about. Yes, they were soldiers fighting a war against powerful magic they couldn’t match so exploiting every advantage was expected of them, but the Horde wanted to rule Etheria, not destroy it. Lord Hordak was building an empire; he would need fields and functioning ecosystems and economics to sustain it. Probably in-tact runestones too.

 _Is that so? Then why was he so happy with what you did?_ A traitorous thought asked her. And, really, that was the heart of them problem, wasn’t it? As much as the Horde overlooked her differences, they expected her to think like them, but she hadn’t been molded into a perfect soldier from a young age, she had been brought up as a princess. Instead of learning fighting and battle strategies, what she had been drilled on were ethics and moral rights and wrongs.

Maybe princesses were her enemies and she wasn’t sympathizing with _them_ , but rather all the innocents and the planet in general caught in the crossfire. She tried to make herself immune to it and largely succeeded in fooling everyone around her, but her heart inside felt like it was choking every time someone not involved paid for the war.

Yet she was proud that she had stood by and helped her friends hurt everyone at once?

This was getting her nowhere. She could agonize over the right and wrong choices she had made _after_ the mission, when they were back in the Fright Zone either nursing battle wounds or recounting victories. With no support she wasn’t expecting the latter, but she thought their chances were much better in the absence of Adora’s sword.

“You are obviously of Faleanes origin.” A dark-skinned regent, Pantha, stepped closer, scrutinizing Catra closely. The girl jutted her chin out defiantly. “And your age would seem to be quite close to the missing princess’s.”

“Are you suggesting the Horde stole and raised the princess as one of their own?” Caracal asked incredulously.

“No princess of any respectable kingdom would fall prey to their mind tricks.” Little miss sparkle butted in. Scorpia snorted very loudly and obviously. Because honestly? She had just about had it with her baseless arguments.

“A child not even three years old would.” Lionella snapped back irritably, but her eyes never left Catra.

“Tell me, how did you come to be with the Evil Horde, young one?” Leorda asked with a soft look that bellied her mountain-like stature. At Scorpia’s side, Catra tilted her head up to glare at her, lips drawn into a stubborn line.

_Evil Horde? Give it a rest with the unnecessary adjectives._ Scorpia thought glumly.

Through it all, one thing the red princess couldn’t shake was the terrifying accuracy with which everything fell into place. If the missing princess really would be about as old as Catra now, coupled with her unexplained appearance in the Horde and the fact the just seeing her gave the elder such a strong reaction, Scorpia was having a hard time seeing a different conclusion. Occam’s razor came to mind. And that was without factoring in the fact that the Horde had hidden all records of this princess and this kingdom – possibly to keep a certain someone from asking questions – or questioning why Shadow Weaver had put up with Catra in spite of her obvious dislike of the girl.

From across the ring formed by the watching crowd and uneasy guards, Adora was clearly drawing the same conclusion, as evidenced by her disbelieving eyes and covered mouth. Her companions were looking worried by her side, the archer more unsure and the princess desperate.

“I’m not your precious lost baby so it doesn’t matter how I ended up in the Horde.” Catra snarled, hands curling into fists. The facade of bravo and anger was starting to spill forth into panic and fear. Except for Leorda’s pitying look and Clawdia’s calculating one, the maybe-princess was completely ignored, whispers building into a dull roar all around them.

Catra stumbled back from the sheer force of the realization, hands striking out blindly around her. A mix between a battle cry and a sob escaped her mouth. Without a moment’s hesitation, Scorpia swept behind her, placing one claw gently on a wrist and shooing away the crowd with the other. People scrambled away from her, but she was too focused on her friend to pay attention to their fear.

Smaller claws pricked her own as Catra fought to liberate her hand, hissing all the way. The princess tried to catch her free hand without hurting her, mumbling assuring nothings in an attempt to calm her. But the younger girl only thrashed harder, until a wild swipe caught Scorpia under her eye and she reeled back in surprise, loosening her grip enough to lose grasp on Catra’s hand.

Gently pressing the underside of her claw to the wound, she watched as her friend seemed to calm, though her pupils were still wide with adrenaline and her arms twitched with a need to attack. Only a small trickle of blood dripped down her cheek from the cut, which she wiped away quickly. It stung and was doubtlessly a mess on her face, but it wasn’t pressing, so she let it be. Instead, she looked at Catra, watching as she got herself under control and straightened like nothing happened.

Scorpia didn’t expect anything else, but an apology would have been appreciated. Sighing inaudibly, she cleaned her face as best she could with her bare claws.

Catra’s eyes drifted to the wound, then fell to the ground as her teeth worried her lip. That was as much of an apology as she was getting, Scorpia supposed. Before she could contemplate it further, a wrinkled hand pushed a wad of leaves into her claw. Following the limb to its owner revealed the elder – Ms Whiskers if Scorpia remembered right – with a motherly smile.

Unsure if what to do, the princess took the offered dried leave hesitantly, feeling some of them crunch in her grip. Her curious gaze jumped from it to the elder, who nodded back to it.

“That’s some of our marigold supply. Chew it up and put it on that nasty cut. You don’t want infection setting in.” She instructed strictly, reminding Scopria of a grandmother.

“Uhh, putting leaves and spit on an open wound? Sounds like a bad idea.” She said tentatively, wondering if age was the only reason Elder was not longer on the throne.

“Oh, quit looking at me like that. I still have all my marbles.” Ms Whiskers grinned wryly, making the teenager duck her head. “That plant there has been used for treating wounds for ages around here. Works like a charm. Might not be any of the fancy technology you are used to, but I can assure you it works.”

“It’s just a small cut, I’ll be fine.” Scorpia pushed the leaves back to the elder, but the old woman was having none of it.

“A small cut can spread infection all over your body, young lady, so either do it or, higher forces help me, I will do it myself.”

“I’m chewing, I’m chewing!” The princess hastily showed half of the wad into her mouth and ground it with her teeth. An acidic taste spread over her tongue, but she didn’t dare spit it out under the elder’s sharp watch.

When she was sure it was a definite paste, she spat it onto her claw and gently smeared it under her eye. The cut flared with pain instantly and for a moment she worried she had just poisoned herself, but it was the same pain that disinfectants back in the Fright Zone felt like. Certain she had covered all of the wound, she looked at the rest of the leaves, wondering if she ought to bring in back with her to let Entrapta analyze them.

“Oh no. Don’t even think about it. All of that’s going on the cut. It may be the last of our resources, but that doesn’t mean we’ll deny someone the aid.” Ms Whiskers shoved Scorpia’s arm to her face as though she wanted to fit her entire claw into her mouth. The princess grunted under her surprising strength, before her words filtered into her conscious mind.

 _Last of our resources_?

What was she doing, accepting medicine she didn’t even really need, when there was more than enough of it back in the Horde? Especially from people who were running low on it. And not just running low, but probably incapable of collecting any more, what with the woods in the state it was in.

 _And that’s my fault too_.

The realization his her like a runaway tank, nearly knocking her off her feet. The wad of dark green leaves in her hand seemed so insignificant right now, but for someone it could mean the difference between living and dying. She couldn’t take it, not any more than she already had.

Numbly, she pushed what was left into the old lady’s hands then snatched her claws back as though burned. “I really don’t need it. This’ll heal on its own.”

If it would make any difference, she would be scraping off the salve drying on her cheek; just feeling its now-pleasant cool touch was like red-hot guilt raking its claws across the cut.

Ms Whiskers shook her head stubbornly, opening her mouth to protest, only to be cut off by an irritate voice. “If she says she doesn’t need it, _she doesn’t need it._ ”

Catra stared down the old woman who could be her aunt haughtily, eyes gleaming as they always did when she was annoyed. Scorpia wondered if she was simply bored of their little back and forth or if she too felt bad taking from people who they had wronged and limited already. Probably the former.

“If you insist child,” the elder said in a patronizing tone, but fortunately Catra didn’t let herself react.

Tucking the herbs into a fold in her clothing, Ms Whiskers beckoned them with what could almost be excitement. “Come with me. There is something you need to see, young one.”

She turned and started into the crowd without hesitation, nearly tripping over her own feet with her haste, but after a few steps she looked back. Catra hadn’t budged from her spot, glaring defiantly at the elder; her hipbone jutted out as she leaned back and crossed her arms. The wizened woman moved back to them, this time keeping a comfortable bubble of space between them.

Eyeing first the elder and then her superior, Scorpia strategically retreated to the side. There seemed to be no outright animosity between the two, but the silence still weighted on her like a physical force. Ms Whiskers pulled her lips into an uncertain smile before she spoke, calmer now.

“There’s no need to worry. I only intend to show you something.”

“You really think I’m your niece.” Catra stated more than asked, her voice strangely detached.

“I could never forget eyes like yours.” The elder answered sadly. She probably meant it as a compliment, but the teenager bristled instantly.

“Because they’re wrong?” Catra hissed defensively. “Because it’s a mistake you never saw since? Well, news flash, I’m not the only one with eyes so messed up.”

The old ruler didn’t seem taken aback by the outburst and she spoke in a calm measured tone, full of faith. “No. Because I have never seen someone with so much fire in them. Someone who could take on the world and come out on top through sheer will alone. You are stronger than most.”

For a moment, for less than a heartbeat, Catra’s eyes widened and her breath caught, her defensive demeanor dropping under the pure _truth_ in the elder’s voice. The old woman truly believed in what she said and Scorpia could confirm it. She had never seen someone so strong in mind as when she’d witnessed Catra face Shadow Weaver. There had been something powerful in her gaze and in her motions and her will to live. Something not so much physical as mental; in that moment, Scorpia had truly realized just how much potential Catra had.

The surprise didn’t last and Catra rebounded back to anger so quickly, Scorpia wondered if she even saw anything at all. Ears pressed flat on her head and hands balled into fists, she was the image of fury, but instead of lashing out, she jerked her thumb back at Scorpia.

“I’ll go with you, so long as she comes too.”

Ms Whiskers’ gaze slid to Scorpia, her brows tugging together in contemplation. She looked the tall princess up and down, eyes catching on her red plating with something Scorpia couldn’t read. She huffed out loud, reaching the end of her patience for the unnecessarily suspicious behavior from the entire damn kingdom. She was actually looking forward to getting back to the Fright Zone just to get away from it.

“Very well, then. Come.” Ms Whiskers smiled again and held out an open palm with a nod to her maybe-niece. Catra raised an eyebrow and made a show of stepping around the offered hand and gestured for the elder to lead the way. Rolling her eyes, Scorpia hurried to catch up with them as they set off through the crowd. People parted respectfully as the elder passed, giving her bows or nods and only shooting distrustful looks at the Horde soldiers following her.

Ms Whiskers ambled forward slowly, giving Scorpia the time to look back at the still-arguing regents and the stunned unreadable look on Adora’s face. Only regent Clawdia was watching them leave, the rest of them discussing one thing or another with Bright Moon’s princess jumping in every so often; the archer she thought might be called Bow looked like he couldn’t choose between holding his friend back and joining her arguments. Adora stared at empty space, detached from reality and for a moment, Scorpia felt sorry for her too. After all, Catra wasn’t the only one who had her closest person ripped away.

Then the moment passed and she remembered who made the choice to tear them apart and the compassion was buried under determination and their mission. Turning back to her situation, Scopria saw they were heading for the massive structure she had seen upon entering town. Craning her head up, she gave an impressed whistle.

It had looked grandiose from afar, but the first impression had nothing on standing right before it. More than a dozen trees with trunks almost as wide as she was tall stood in a perfect circle, their branches reaching up to interweave high above their heads to form a sort of roof. Heavy crowns of leaves blocked most of the light and shone with a blinding bright green in the sun, not in the least harmed by the snowstorm. What little light could make its way past the leaves was stopped by swooping thick vines and hanging clumps of moss. The edge of the circle had various undergrowth growing outward from the shadow of the trees, effectively hiding the inside from prying eyes.

There seemed to be no break in the circle through which they could enter, but as they approached, Ms Whiskers found and lifted an overgrown fern with practices ease and uncovered a well-used dirt path. Scorpia took the leaf from her aging hands and held it aside to let the two felines pass, then ducked in after them.

The inside was pitch black at first, making the princess pause. As her eyesight slowly adjusted, her other senses went into overdrive; she could detect the sounds of another confrontation taking place outside, though she didn’t bother listening; musty stale smells filled her nose, reminding her both of the forest and the prison sector in the Fright Zone, with its malfunctioning AC and lack of windows. An itch irritated her cheek, reminding her of the cut.

Absently she scratched under it to alleviate some of the sensation, feeling something flake off. _The paste,_ she thought with a wince and guilt churning in her chest.

D ark as it was inside the grove of trees, even after her pupils dilated and she could see under her feet, a light from ahead drew her attention like a flame. The ground was damp and cold, sinking slightly under her weight and flushing out muddy water and worms. It felt and looked as healthy as could be, a stark contrast to the rest of the Woods.  If she looked closely enough, Scorpia could see relatively bright splashes of colored light in the confusing network of roots at base of each tree; later she would look it up and find out it was bio-luminescent fungi flourishing in the shade.

But the centerpiece was what stole her attention. Rising out of the earth like a natural  monument, a smooth dark brown stone taller than she was cast low light all around the chamber. It was a perfect oval held upon a hand-like structure of roots. A thin line of bright orange ran down the middle and gradually faded into brown at the edges  and no matter how Scorpia titled her head, it stayed in the middle of the  stone’s  visage.  It almost felt like an eye following her every move.

N ot of her own accord, her gait slowed down almost respectfully,  gaze dropping under the powerful presence of a runestone. One of the corner of her eye, she saw Catra react the same, ears lifted in wonder and shoulders hunched as she tried to appear unaffected. Ms Whiskers strode confidently to the stone, reaching out a hand to place it on it through a gap in the roots.

A ripple and a soft pulse of light raced across the surface of the stone and the glow intensified ever-so-slightly. Fingers staying splayed on the powerful artifact, the elder turned a beckoned Catra to her.  Scorpia watched her lift her chin up and march forward like a soldier on a mission, stopping within arm’s reach of the other feline. Ms Whiskers spoke softly to her, her free hand gesturing at the stone then poking her chest and making Catra draw back  and hiss.

Too far away to hear  them, Scorpia made to step closer, but before her foot even fell to the ground, the elder’s gaze found hers and the princess was faced with the most menacing glare she had seen in a long time. It looked like Catra’s, almost  – bright eyes that seemed to glow in the shadows and lips pulled back ever so slightly from pointed teeth – only less angry and dangerous, yet still quit e effective. Pinned under the thunderous expression, Scorpia instead took a hesitant step back, then quickly backpedaled out of the chamber entirely.

J ust as the ferns closed behind her, she saw Catra spare her hasty exit a quick look.

Catching her breath now that she was no longer staring down an impressively terrifying village elder, Scorpia contemplated what to do with her time. Leaving any further meant leaving Catra alone with no backup if she was jumped by the Rebellion’s representatives or possibly some irritate guard with a grudge against the Horde. She didn’t dare go back inside; even if the elder herself presented no threat, her word alone could sic all of the kingdom’s soldiers on them. Plus it seemed like Catra was actually willing to let her show her the heritage she came from and, for Scorpia, that counted higher than completing their mission.

Everyone deserved to know where their roots lay.

The only option left was to stand guard outside, which would get boring exceptionally quickly.  She considered talking to some locals while keeping an eye on the trees – she had a thousand questions about Faleanes (how did they hide so well? Was this all that was left of their kingdom?  Where they likely to join the Rebellion ? )  – but none of them seemed like they would be thrilled to interact with her.

R esigned, she waded through more ferns to lean on one of the trees,  blowing out a large loud sigh . Her toe tapped several times before she stilled it. A piece of bark poked her in the back so she shifted in place. Then she slid down to sit among the greenery, letting her head loll back as boredom started to set in.  How long was Catra going to stay there?  What were they even talking about?

Was the elder trying to convince her friend to desert the Horde?

She eyed the curtain of  flora that separated her from her friend warily  at the sudden thought . Did the Princess Alliance get there before them and set up a plan to turn the Horde’s second-in-command to their side? What if the whole ‘you’re our lost princess’ situation was just made up? She… couldn’t really see Adora doing something like that, but the princesses were definitely devious enough. And Scorpia would know, she had to endure them for years when they were kids.

Had she left Catra in a trap?

But no. They were devious, but they hated Catra. They would never want her on their side, not even if Adora tried to convince them (and judging by her reaction, she hadn’t known about any of this). And they couldn’t make an entire town act like they wanted them to. So, it wasn’t made up and probably wasn’t a trap.

That meant that Catra might have found a place where she belonged more than the Horde.

Scorpia didn’t know how to feel out that. Would Catra stay here? If so, would she still be loyal to the Horde or would she join the Rebellion? And what would Scorpia do?

She couldn’t return to the Horde if she lost Hordak’s prized commander to the enemy. It could very well brand her as a traitor as well. But if Catra would be happier  in Faleanes, then who was she to take it away? She obviously couldn’t stay with her, if only because she refused to be subjected to any more baseless ostracism simply because her family were unique and more fit for the battlefield than a ballroom. No matter how much she wished she had another choice, the Horde was simply the only place where her actions and intentions mattered  _more_ than her body shape or unusual features. Their methods were brutal and tragic, but no side was innocent in a war.

O r so she told herself.

A s she contemplated her tiny pool of options, a figure approached. Snapping her eyes upward, she was met with cool blue and an unhappy frown. Scorpia scrambled to her feet and gave a hasty bow to Regent Clawdia, cautiously watching the woman stop a few meters before her. They regarded each other silently and Scorpia’s skin scrawled at the ice in the regent’s gaze, something in her gut telling her that this was a dangerous enemy.

“Your companion, where is she?” Clawdia questioned without emotion. Fire reared in Scorpia’s soul in response. Her instincts seemed to scream _danger_.

“She’s busy.” She shrugged.

Blue eyes narrowed in warning. “She left with the Elder. What did she intend to do?”

“She didn’t _intend to do_ anything. Your elder made her go along with this.” Scorpia snapped hotly. At the regent’s threatening posture, she relented. “Ms Whiskers took her to your runestone.”

Clawdia froze up at the words, eyes going wide before her fists clenched and she broke her diplomatic demeanor long enough to snarl at Scorpia. “Faleanes has gone unsupervised by a princess for a decade. If she makes a move to upend our stability, she will be dealt with as any other enemy.”

Her threat delivered, Clawdia spun on a heel and marched away, white tail-tip twitching irritably.  Scorpia stared after her, shocked still at the open hostility. She had thought the regents weren’t content to have a soldier from the Horde claim (more like be appointed, really) to be their lost princess, but this was a whole another level.

Feeling uncomfortably exposed, she weighted the risk bursting into the middle of whatever Catra and the elder were talking about against letting her friend be out of her sight for a second later.  If Clawdia was delivering ultimatums this brazenly, then what else was she willing to do?

Leaves rustled to her right and she nearly jumped out of her skin when Catra pushed through the undergrowth and into sunlight. Ms Whiskers was close behind her, talking so softly, Scorpia wandered if she was talking to herself.

“–the Tiger’s Eye is your hereditary runestone. No matter your upbringing or allegiances, that right can never be taken away from you.”

Catra’s eyes landed on Scorpia and she speed-walked to her, ignoring the old woman hurrying to catch up.  She stopped out of arm’s reach, eyeing the princess as though she was going to  suddenly  envelope her in one of her crushing hugs, then glared up at her.

“You left.” She said accusingly.

“Sorry, that felt personal. And I was watching the entrance, I swear.” Scorpia gave a mock salute, gaze jumping between her superior and the elder. She itched to tell Catra about the possible danger she was in, but wasn’t sure how Ms Whiskers would react. She didn’t seem to be aware of the regents’ disapproval of Catra and spreading rumors would only anger them more.

“I wanted you along because I need you to watch my back. And I yours.” Catra reprimanded, then just shook her head and let it go. A lot of the fight seemed to have been taken out of her. “Don’t do it again.”

With t hat out of the way, both of their gazes fell to Ms Whiskers and the elder moved to them, slowly placing a hand on Catra’s forearm to catch her attention. When she spoke, her tone had a knowing undertone that Scorpia couldn’t place. “I am not showing you this because I expect you to want to rule this kingdom.”

Catra jerked her arm out of her grasp and the elder let her go without a fight. “I simply wish for you to know all of your options.  Your roots, however  much they do not sit with who you are, are still important. ”

She smiled a soft smile, gesturing to herself. “I may be woman and everyone accepts me as a woman, and all those years of being taken as a man were a nightmare I would much rather forget, it had happened and made me who I am today. Just as you are a warrior instead of a ruler, and yet the power of the Tiger’s Eye is in your veins and a part of your history that you should not throw away.  Do you understand that? ”

She gaze d imploringly at Catra,  an unknown plea in her eyes that Scorpia couldn’t place.  Did she hope that Catra would stay? Or did she know her regents well enough to hope the girl would turn tail and run and never look back? Scorpia selfishly hoped Catra would return with her.

Catra hesitated for a heartbeat, just long enough for the indecision to be visible on her face. Then she purged her expression into a carefully constructed bla n k mask. “I’m no soldier and no leader.”

She turned from them both and strode away, calling over her shoulder. “I can get by with my own skills. I don’t need a runestone to be powerful.”

Scorpia hurried to catch up with her quick pace, falling in step at her friend’s shoulder. She felt that Catra wouldn’t appreciate a hug  at that moment , no matter how much she wanted to give her one. Instead as they walked, Scorpia caught  her whisper on the breeze.

“ _I’m a survivor.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, so sorry I kept anyone who read this waiting. I've kinda fallen out of this fandom for a while and just got back, so here's a specially long chapter as apology. And yes I know many people won't read this because of season 2 coming out in two weeks, but I really want to write this story so I'll just do it before it airs.  
> Secondly, don't think I hate Glimmer or anything, the reason for her snappish behavior in this chapter will be explained in the next one. After all, the Horde isn't the only one spreading propaganda about their enemies.  
> Lastly, I hope I portrayed Ms Whiskers true to trans people. I know I didn't focus on that much, but I hope what little attention I did give her, I didn't mess up.


	3. Glimmer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Glimmer was furious with the Horde for years, with Catra especially after what she had done to Adora and Etheria, but pretending to be lost princess might just top everything else. She wasn't going to let her walk all over them again; if only Adora had her sword and they stopped losing track of the Horde operatives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally going to be a short filler chapter, but it ran away with me. Glimmer's not a character I have a good grasp on, but I wanted to try and capture her fierce protectiveness and loyalty and supportive personality, but also her negative aspects, like her short temper and slight vengefulness. Sorry if she seems too OOC, but this is the best I can do.
> 
> ONLY ONE WEEK TO SEASON 2, I AM EXCITED! Let's hope it'll be as good as the first.  
> Anyway, enjoy the chapter!

For all the battles Glimmer had been in and seen, the Battle of Bright Moon was the first one she had to help clean up.

Oh, she had seen the damage the Horde inflicted on villages and towns and the planet in general, and each time her resolve to take them out hardened even more, but somehow she hadn’t realized exactly how much effort was needed to put everything back into working order. There was all the carnage they had to manually clear out: collapsed walls, still-smoking cannonballs and destroyed remains of tanks and skiffs. The castle had had many of its supports and pillars devastated, and anyone not injured or exhausted helped rig up a hasty scaffold to keep it from caving in on itself. Luckily (or maybe unluckily), the castle and the Moonstone’s pedestal seemed to have attracted most of the damage, so they were the only structures in need of rebuilding.

All members of the Princess Alliance sent word to their kingdoms to gather relief aid and have it sent to Bright Moon posthaste. The steady food source kept the citizens and soldiers free to focus on picking up the pieces of their kingdom and all medicine was immediately given to the injured after Bright Moon’s supply dried up. Architects and laborers were called in to assist in reconstructions.

When light faded from the sky and everyone else retired to bed to rest, the members of the Princess Alliance gathered in the main hall and debated about their next move. The Horde was suspiciously quiet, sending small squadrons to probe their defenses and otherwise only fortifying their outposts in the Whispering Woods. The general theory was that they were planning to spread and strengthen their operations through the Woods and push the battle front to Bright Moon. It was worrisome, because without the Woods, there was nothing stopping their seemingly endless supply of soldiers and tanks.

So the Rebellion turned their attention to trying to salvage their strongest defense. Perfuma’s powers and vast knowledge about plants hit a brick wall when the flora of the woods seemed to shy away from her magic and didn’t react well to her more mundane remedies. The other princesses were stumped and turning to any folk that lived in the woods only provided them with vague reassurances that ‘the woods would heal’ and rumors of a lost kingdom.

And in between the mind-numbing work and late evening meetings, Glimmer simmered with rage. She wasn’t the only one; tempers flared and arguments broke out daily, a product of fear and cabin fever and having to look at the damage their base had suffered all day long. Before four days passed, everyone had managed to fight with everyone else and many nearly came to blows over insignificant issues. And while the princesses fought among themselves and her mother worried about the Moonstone’s unstable power and Bow stood a solemn vigil for the woods, it was Adora who worried Glimmer the most.

She had told her new friends about Catra, the girl with who she used to be inseparable and was raised alongside of. After she had to explain who Shadow Weaver was to her, the words seemed to flow out of her like a flood, many names she had known, that were now her enemies. She had mentioned Catra last, tears glittering in her eyes as she spoke of their childhood and pranks and mischief.

And even though she could see the care Adora held for the girl and sympathized with her loss, Glimmer couldn’t help but think their separation was for the best. And it wasn’t shallow jealousy talking; it sounded like Catra had made Adora’s day to day life just more difficult and got her into needless trouble. Maybe in the Horde, Catra was as good a friend as anyone could get, but outside of it, there were much better people to be surrounded with. And when she thought back to what she’d seen of the cat girl, she couldn’t imagine she was taking Adora’s desertion hard, what with her careless taunting and disregard for Adora in Salineas. It had seemed like Catra easily wiped her hands clean of her former friend and moved on, while Adora agonized over what happened nearly every day.

So right from the start, Glimmer didn’t like her.

Destroying Princess Prom, capturing her and Bow, holding them for ransom in the Fright Zone, following Adora into the First Ones temple and provoking her even there, then heartlessly tearing the balance of Etheria’s runestones apart to try to raze Bright Moon to the ground quickly transformed that dislike into seething hatred. When she had seen the scratches on Adora’s back, the only thing that kept her from marching right to the Fright Zone to take her fury out on the one responsible was the thought that Adora needed her more.

She promised herself that the next time their paths crossed it would be the last. Catra was not walking away if she ever tried to hurt them again.

Which made her current situation that much more infuriating. The bastard was right there, parading as some sort of lost princess, while Glimmer couldn’t risk attacking her without her armor and with so many bystanders. Why, oh why had she agreed to go in unarmed? And to top it off, the regent council of Faleanes was treating her as though she was any other visitor and not a dangerous enemy.

Internally, she debated the risks of leaving to get their weapons and armor, wondering what sort of damage the Horde soldiers would cause in their absence. As it was, they were sorely disadvantaged and wouldn’t fare well in a fight. But if they left, they might return to a town in ruins, because Faleanes was clearly underestimating the threat it was facing. She tried not to let her anger cloud her judgment, but it was hard when she was presented with the perfect chance to capture and possibly neutralize the _second-in-command_ of the Horde (she assumed that had been a new development, but even still Adora was looking way too pale from the information).

In the end, she resolved herself to make the regents understand the danger of letting any Horde operative into their kingdom, much less listening to their twisted words and thus she didn’t see Catra and Scorpia slip out. She cut off halfway through the thousandth unheard argument, eyes raking the crowd around them in a frenzy. But there was no orange or red in sight. The old throne-holder seemed to have disappeared as well and Glimmer tried not to think about what that could mean.

Argument and regents forgotten, she spun around to snag Bow’s collar and drag his ear down to her.

“Where’s the Horde?” She asked in an franic whisper. _How did they slip through our fingers again?_

Bow straightened sharply, looking around as well, but even by his nervous expression, she knew he couldn’t see them. Glimmer bit her lip, glancing at Adora. The girl had plenty on her plate already – of emotional baggage at least – and she didn’t want to make her face her former friend when they would have to be talking instead of fighting. But at the same time, Adora wouldn’t forgive her if they went to confront the enemy without her backup.

Bow followed her gaze then gave her a patronizing one. Right, they didn’t need to baby her.

“Adora,” Glimmer nudged her shoulder, partially breaking her from her catatonic state. Empty eyes stared back at her. “Catra and Scorpia disappeared. We need to find them.”

Beside her, Glimmer felt one of the regents stiffen, but ignored them. Adora was looking more alive, nodding to the outside of the crowd. Together, the three of them pushed their way through, gasping for air once they left the mass of bodies. Behind them, some sort of discussion continued, but when Glimmer looked back, one of the regents was missing; Clawdia.

“Alright, Faleanes looks small, but they’ll be hard to find,” Adora said, spurred to life by the anticipation of action. “Catra blends in, so let’s try to look for Scorpia. Hopefully they’re together.”

Glimmer and Bow nodded resolutely, then something occurred to the princess. “What if they left to get reinforcements?”

Adora shook her head. “No, most of their machines can’t make it up the mountain and we’ve been watched ever since we came, so they must be too. Any army would be seen coming.”

Glimmer jerked her head around, but she didn’t see anyone paying them any special attention. Looking back to Adora, she saw her pointing subtly to a tree to their left. Following the trunk up, Glimmer gaped as she spotted a camouflaged guard sitting among the branches above them. Hastily turning her movements into a stretch and yawn, she hoped he didn’t realize he had been noticed. She looked back at Adora, wondering how she’d noticed him as Glimmer hadn’t seen her look up even once.

“I guess I’ve been paranoid ever since Shadow Weaver sent her spies after us.” Adora said in lieu of answer, shrugging, but her back tensed at the memory.

“Alright, so let’s split up – and let me finish – I know it’s not the safest bet, but it’ll be quicker – and search for Scorpia. When you find her and Catra, try to get them back to the plaza.” Glimmer instructed. “If we can’t find them, we’ll meet back there in 20 minutes.”

That should give them ample time to look for the Horde soldiers without exposing their backs for too long. Decision made, the trio wished each other good luck and hurried off into the town. Glimmer lingered for a moment when she noticed Adora poking her head into a bush of overgrown thorns. After a second (and ripping her cloak), she pushed through and disappeared from Glimmer’s sight. The princess raised an eyebrow, wondering how her friend had known the bushes led to anywhere, the shrugged and hurried off.

Glimmer headed around the edge of the village, wading in knee-high thorns and nettle with quiet curses. Annoying as it was, she had to check the margins in case their enemy was trying to sneak out or were setting up anything unsavory away from prying eyes. And Glimmer was the one most used to fighting without weapons, so she would have the best chance of stalling them in a fight until Adora and Bow arrived.

The going was slow and painful, making her endlessly grateful that she decided to wear tall boots, as they were sheltering her from the worst of the undergrowth. Every so often, she would stop and check deeper into both the town and the outlaying wilderness, determined to do a thorough perimeter check.

She was nearing the halfway mark of her designated time span when she spotted something tall and dark red standing out against the greens and browns. She halted herself before she could make a victorious noise and braced herself for a tackle, but the figure before her moved and she could see the red was in fact only highlights on a dark purple dress and the hair covering it was long and braided. Glimmer cursed to herself and kept going.

Regent Clawdia turned at the sudden rustling, setting icy eyes on the small princess. A scowl pulled at her expression and she marched almost angrily toward her. Glimmer froze on the spot, struggling with her fight-or-flight response to the pure _threat_ that this woman had in her gait. Before she reached her, the princess straightened and gave a respectful bow, even if she didn’t feel like putting up with the regent at the moment.

Clawdia gazed at her with condemnation and Glimmer felt very self-conscious about her no doubt torn and stained clothes from the forest; their mission was more important than her dress and she hadn’t stopped to think how the regents would take it.

“The princess of Bright Moon sneaking around like a common thief. Is there something you feel the need to hide?” Clawdia questioned with mild disinterest.

“No, of course not.” Glimmer said with dread. “I was only looking for the Horde soldiers. They had disappeared and I was worried they were planning something.”

“Planning something you say?” Clawdia’s ears swiveled forward curiously.

“Yes,” the princess affirmed. “They are trying to take over all of Etheria through any means necessary. Who knows what they will do to get your runestone.”

Clawdia  almost  seemed to deflate and waved her hand impartial l y.  “ There’s no need for such concern. It has already been taken care of. ”

Glimmer perked up with hope. Maybe Faleanes wasn’t quite as trusting and indifferent as she had thought. “That’s good to hear, Regent Clawdia.”

Her relief didn’t last though, because then  the regent’s gaze glared sternly down at her.  “ And just as I did them, I will give you the same ultimatum. If you intend to interfere with our  leadership or drag us into a war that’s not our own, you will be dealt with as any other threat. ”

Glimmer’s throat closed up with shock, leaving her speechless long enough for Clawdia to spin on a he e l and stride away. Just as she was disappearing behind a corner, she called over her shoulder. “And you’ll do good to spread the message to your friends and allies, lest they make a  costly mistake.”

Then she was gone, like a phantom that was never there.

Shivers  raced along the princess’ spine as she contemplated what to do. She still had a lot of ground to cover,  because even if the Horde wasn’t going to be a problem, she was going to take one or both of them as prisoners of Bright Moon. Losing their top commander would be a  great blow to their pride and their operations and might mean inside r information for the Rebellion.

But if their snooping around was taken as a threat, then they might turn an important potential ally into an enemy. She bit her lip, resuming her search for a few more minutes, then giving up and making her way to the center of town. She needed to warn her friends more than she needed to find the Horde soldiers.

Just as she broke into a more populated street, she ran into a large and tall person.  Literally.  Dual groans of pain sounded out as Glimmer clutched her forehead and the other person  their chest, which she’s hit pretty solidly.

“With all that hair and fluffy ears, you’d think their heads wouldn’t be so _hard_.” A familiar voice muttered and Glimmer scrambled back as soon as she recognized Scorpia. The taller princess looked surprised to see her too, rubbing her side where Glimmer had run into her ribs and scowling down at her as though it was somehow _her_ fault alone.

A quick look around revealed that she was alone.  _So they did split up,_ _damn_ _._

“What are you up to?” She demanded, sliding into a battle-ready stance. One out of two would still be something.

Scorpia had the audacity to look affronted. “Me? Nothing! It was Adora who charged us like a madwoman and dragged Catra off with her. I’ve been trying to find her!”

_Adora did what??_ Glimmer thought incredulously.  _What was she thinking? That was a risky move without the sword._

“Why are you here?” She snapped. At least Adora’s actions divided the two without losing track of one. Scopria might hit like a tank, but she was easy enough to beat if Glimmer paid attention.

“Uh, looking for Catra?” Scorpia tried, but gave up the act pretty quickly. “Last I checked it was none of your business.”

“It’s my business if you’re endangering innocent lives.” Glimmer took a step forward, committed to not letting the other princess’s claws and poisonous tail deter her. Scorpia looked strangely hurt by the accusation.

“We’re not _endangering_ anyone.” She snapped, crossing her arms stubbornly. “We’re investigating something.”

She made a shooing motion. “Now get lost so I can go find my friend.”

Glimmer did no such thing. She rooted herself to the spot, standing in Scorpia’s way as much as she could. But internally, she was conflicted. It didn’t seem like Adora had Bow for backup and leaving her alone with Catra for any length of time could be dangerous. On the other hand, letting Scorpia join the confrontation would only make it worse.

Undecided, she stayed frozen in place until she noticed Scorpia moving to go around her.

“Hey, you’re not going anywhere!” Glimmer shouted and latched onto the taller girl’s arm, dragging her backward to face her. Scorpia snorted and shook herself out of the grip.

“You’re not in Bright Moon, shortstuff.” She said. “You don’t get to boss people around here.”

Rage that had been simmering under Glimmer’s skin for years suddenly burst forth; anger at the Horde, the failure of the Princess Alliance, her father’s unfair death, at Scorpia’s family for turning tail like cowards and abandoning them. “At least I have a kingdom. And I’m not too scared to fight for it!”

Scorpia stilled, head lowering to hide her face in her bangs. _Gotcha_. Then her arm moved, bringing her claw up to her face as if to inspect it. Glimmer braced herself for an attack, but the other princess just stood there, transfixed, staring at the red plating of her limb.

After a minute , as suddenly as the solemn mood fell upon her, it vanished and she shrugged, the insult rolling off of her shoulders like water.  She didn’t bother looking at Glimmer as she sauntered past her,  scoffing under her breath just loud enough for the short princess to hear. “Princesses. You think you  just can’t be in the wrong .”

“What do you mean ‘princesses’? You’re a princess too!” Glimmer spun around to keep her eyes on her retreating figure.

Scorpia looked over her shoulder, face an indifferent mask. “It means that your high-and-mighty attitude to everyone who’s different from you makes me wish I wasn’t a princess.”

Before Glimmer’s stunned  mind  managed to formulate a response, her quarry was lost behind a corner of a house.  _Makes me wish I wasn’t a princess_ . How could she say that? What had the Horde done  and said  to make her think like that? Or was her entire bloodline simply too corrupted already when they joined the Horde?

_No time to wonder_ , she reminded herself. She had lost Scorpia (a mistake she quietly berated herself for), but if she was to be believed, then she needed to find Adora to help her. Hopefully, Bow would happen upon the force captain and prevent her from leaving, but  Glimmer herself was setting her sights on the second-in-command.

The princess paused in her  march to think. Where would Adora take Catra if she wanted a private setting? Outside of the town seemed like a safe bet if they were alone, but Adora was unarmed and Catra probably armed  and volatile , so she wouldn’t risk going somewhere nobody could  hear or find her.  That would mean she  didn’t leave the more populated part of town and if she stayed in the vicinity, she would want to go somewhere Scorpia wouldn’t look right away.

A spark appeared in Glimmer’s eyes and she couldn’t help snapping her fingers. There was a part of town quite close to the plaze that looked overgrown and abandoned;  Adora had matched inside right as the y split . Glimmer teleported to the open plaza instantly, paying little mind to the jumps and whimpers of the people closest to where she appeared.  She wanted to sprint right to Adora, but couldn’t risk instilling panic in the citizens, so she spared a few seconds for  an apologetic smile, then speed walked to her destination.

She ducked under clumps of bramble and other thorny bushes she didn’t recognize and shielded her eyes as she fought her way in. Dangerously low voices filtered into her ears, making her heart flutter  with relief  when she  identified one as Adora. Her skirt got tangled on a stubborn branch just as she started to understand words.

“You don’t have to join the Rebellion, you could get away from the fighting, just disappear from the war.” Adora pleaded desperately. “You always said you wanted to leave, why don’t you now that you can? You don’t have to prove anything to anyone. Leave the rest to us. You’ll be safe away from all of this.”

“You mean Etheria will be safe with me gone.” Catra’s unmistakable voice hissed back, making Glimmer clench her teeth and struggle harder against the plant.

“I didn’t mean it like that. You know that Catra.” An old wariness entered Adora’s words. _How many times had she said that?_

“Then why are you only trying to get me to leave. I thought you cared about your entire squad. Well, former squad.” Catra sneered.

“Because they’re loyal to the Horde –”

“So am I!”

“You never wanted to be! You wanted to see the world. We can give you the protection you need to leave and go exploring!” Glimmer silently scowled at the idea. She gave up on the dress and started to tug on it roughly.

Catra gave a bitter laugh. “I already told you I don’t need your protection.”

Then her voice took on a condescending tone. “You might wanna try talking to Kyle, you’ll have more luck with him.”

 _Kyle._ Glimmer turned the name over in her mind. Why did it sound familiar? Was he that soldier Bow talked to in the Fright Zone? He had said he hadn’t seemed too bad, if a little desperate and socially inexperienced.

“Why would he want to leave when he joined the Horde army?” Adora asked, genuinely confused.

“You’re kidding right? You think everyone’s there because they believe the Horde is some force for the good of Etheria like you did?” Catra actually sounded shocked.

“Well, yeah. It was their choice to become soldiers. Only you and I had no choice, because of Shadow Weaver.” Adora said and Glimmer, unseen, nodded her head along with her. Adora was nothing like all the soldiers from the Horde who made the willing choice of serving in its army.

“Okay, wow. That’s really sad. You think they’re there willingly? Seriously? I knew you were dense, but this is a new level.” Glimmer bristled on Adora’s account; who was this pretender to call her friend dense when she’d been manipulated all her life?

Adora clumsily fumbled for a response. “If they know what the Horde’s doing –”

“Kyle, Rogelio, Lonnie? You know them and you think they’re fighting this war because they believe in it? Don’t you know who they are?” Catra asked, disbelieving.

“Joining the fighting is fully one’s own choice as is fighting for the order of our planet –”

“The Horde lied to you since you were a child and you think this quote is anything else?” Catra steamrolled over her again.

“What?”

Glimmer could practically hear the commander roll her eyes. “If Rogelio didn’t join the army, he would be sent to the mines. Need I remind you those have practically the same casualties rate, only with smaller benefits? Kyle’s only there because his family has a history of military achievements. And Lonnie might like fighting, but she hates killing, you should know that.”

“You say you know them so well, but when did you ever even talk to them outside fighting?” Adora fired back, her patience clearly coming to an end. Finally, _finally_ , Glimmer felt her dress start to tear and loosen.

“I didn’t have to talk to them to see something so obvious. Or did you actually fall for Lonnie’s excuse of ‘I was doing solo training’ when she disappeared for a week?” Catra sounded smug, like a cat that caught the canary. _…I did not just think that._

“Well, it made sense! It was right after we first went against an advanced simulations.” Through small slits between leaves, Glimmer saw Adora throw up her hands, the bright pink fabric of her cloak glittering in the sparse sunlight.

“Did it also make sense that it was right after the first time she was forced to kill one of the holograms?” The Horde commander snapped.

“It was just a hologram!”

Catra hissed back as Adora took a step toward her.  “ And later it would be an enemy soldier! You might have missed this, but she was well aware of where our ‘career’ was heading. ”

W ith a definite rip, the end of her dress was freed and Glimmer tore into the clearing  in time to see Adora’s floored expression. Catra looked both angry and smug across from her, hands curled into shaking fists.  Both of them turned to look at newcomer as she marched to Adora’s side, trying to gauge if she was injured.  She was standing on both feet evenly and her arms were limp, but lacking any blood or bruises.  Deeming her healthy, she placed a supporting hand on her shoulder.

Catra watched them, then sneered at the contact. Adora faced her with new patience, a sad resigned frown on her face. Her voice was soft with hurting, but her tone had a definite and defeated ring to it. She was giving up on her former friend, Glimmer guessed. She gave her shoulder a tight squeeze.

“Catra please. Just leave the Horde. I–” Adora swallowed. “I don’t want to fight you. I really don’t want to.”

The commander  glared at them balefully, sharp teeth clenched and heaving deep breaths. A touch of incredulity was in her eyes, alongside the fury. She closed her eyes for a moment and Glimmer considered launching her attack, but Adora held her back, expression desperate. Then Catra opened her mismatched eyes and uncurled her fists and her voice took on a soft cold tone.

“No.”

She swept right past the duo before they could react and to the thorny wall of the clearing.

“Why?” Adora asked, and then talked over whatever Catra could have replied with. “And don’t tell me it’s because I left. I’m sorry, I really am, but if you don’t want to be split up, you should have come with. Or you could have left the Horde completely. I don – don’t understand. Why stay where you hate it?”

The feline girl stilled, tilting her head over her shoulder to pin them with a blue stare. Something melancholic and broken stood out in her expression so much, Glimmer almost felt sorry for her. “Because I’ve got nothing left to lose. And everything to prove.”

They didn’t say anything more, just watched Catra stride into the bushes and expertly maneuver around them.  For a moment Glimmer considered chasing after her to capture her – she would no doubt have all the information on the Horde’s plans – but one look at Adora made her stop.  The finality hadn’t left her expression, but she looked much more vulnerable now.

Tentatively, Glimmer reached over and hugged her rightly. Adora’s hands snaked over her back and held on as if for her life. A dry sob rocked her body, but no tears accompanied it. Adora’s voice jumped with hiccups when she spoke.

“What do I do Glimmer? I know I have to let her go, but we’ve been so close. What did I do wrong?”

Rubbing soothing circles into her friend’s back, Glimmer debated how to voice her thoughts without sounding like she didn’t care.  It wasn’t that she didn’t understand the plight of losing a friend, it was just that it was  _Catra_ of all people.  “You didn’t do anything wrong . It’s not your fault.  It’s really not, A d ora. ”

“Maybe not, but it’ll be my fault when I can’t fight her and she destroys another village. What then? I can’t hold the Rebellion back with this, but I can’t just fight her like anyone else.” Adora made a distressed sound against her shoulder and Glimmer leaned away to look her in the eye. “You’re a wonderful, caring, loyal friend and if she couldn’t see that, then it’s her loss. Adora, please just let it go. She’s not worth this.”

A wet choking sob escaped the girl’s mouth, but she was already picking herself up.  Glimmer hesitantly let her go to compose herself.

“Maybe you’re right.” Adora whispered. “I just – I have spent my whole life with her, it’s still hard to not have her by my side.”

“I know, but it’s for the best.” Glimmer said softly.

Adora took a shuddering breath and gave her a watery smile. “Let’s, let’s just get Bow and get this mess over with.”

They found Bow easily enough; apparently they had wasted more time with Catra than they thought and were late. He said he’d been ready to  round up and  rally the Faleanes soldiers into a search patrol and they laughed and left the tension behind.  The crowd had dispersed in their absence and now only a few passers-by sent them curious looks. The regents were gone, as was the squad of guards, though Glimmer could see a few lingering with the civilians.

T he elder was nowhere to be seen and she tried to tell herself that the old woman leaving had nothing to do with Catra and Scorpia’s initial disappearance.  Regent Clawdia might be distrusting of strangers, even royalty from other kingdoms, but she said the Horde’s plans had been taken care of, so the throne-holder had to be safe.

I n regards to Clawdia…

“Guys, did you run into any of the regents after we split up?” Glimmer asked, casting a nervous eye around. Her friends gave her confused looks and shook their heads, then motioned for her to continue. The princess sighed but did so.

She told them about running into Clawdia during her perimeter check and the regent’s open hostility and threat. Her friends looked skeptical, not of Glimmer, but the situation in general and she found herself agreeing with them. Something wasn’t adding up. She admitted to finding and losing Scorpia when Adora questioned why she came looking for her, but left out what she said last; her parting comment puzzled her immensely. Being a princess was a privilege, not a burden.

Adora tapped her foot on her ground, glaring down at it in thought and Bow contemplated the patches of sky they could see through the canopy, leaving Glimmer in silence. A glance above told her that dusk was approaching and unless they felt like camping in the forest, they should finish their business with Faleanes and hurry back to Bright Moon. They might be offered to stay in a spare room in whatever castle or palace the regents had, but the princess knew she wouldn’t get a wink of sleep with Clawdia in the vicinity.

Lost in her thoughts as she was, she nearly missed the angry voices carried on the breeze. Glimmer snapped her head up, straining her ears; she caught a pacing and muttering Adora by the elbow to quiet her down. Her friends gave her questioning looks, but quickly picked up on the faint sounds as well. As one, the trio turned away from the plaza and cautiously moved down the side streets, stopping at every crossroads and listening intently.

Whatever they were hearing, it was definitely an escalating confrontation and their pace picked up when they thought it might turn violent. They walked through less and less populated streets until they were barely streets at all, resembling narrow dirt paths and animal trails. By the time the people were close enough for their voices to be decipherable, there was little more than hissing and wordless shouting and the sounds of a scuffle. They were far enough from the town that the buildings barely peeked out between the ice-ravaged undergrowth.

Something long and jagged flashed in the trees before them, surging forward like a striking crimson snake. Green sparks lit up the area, followed by a strangled cry.

Swearing under her breath, because of course where there was trouble, the Horde would be right in the middle of it, Glimmer summoned her power and felt the space around her fold. With a shower of sparkles, she skipped the distance, leaving her friends’ pounding footsteps behind her. She appeared right in time to get a face full of claws.

Teleporting on a daily basis meant she could recover much faster than anyone else from sudden changes to her surroundings, especially when she initiated said changes. Which meant that while the Faleanes soldier flapped her limbs in surprise, Glimmer moved out of her way easily, watching her flop on the ground with a wince. _Didn’t plan that one right_.

Taking quick stock of the situation, the princess saw a full squadron of soldiers, at least ten of them if not more, dressed in that annoying camouflaged armor that made them hard to spot even from two meters away. A figure decked out in an expensive-looking purple-and-red dress and clawed gauntlets stood behind them; long silky white hair identified her as Clawdia right away. Across from them, standing shoulder to shoulder, were Catra and Scorpia. Both were sporting more bruises and dirt stains than the opposing side, beaten but not defeated; Catra was snarling and waving around a sparking green baton and Scorpia’s tail flailed behind her, poisonous stinger at the ready. Glimmer eyed it warily, remembering the feel of it in her back with clarity.

Loudly rustling bushes and panting breaths announced her friends’ arrival and it was only when both of them reached over their shoulders and their hands grasped empty air that she remembered they were unarmed. Judging from their wide eyes and surprised expressions, they had forgotten as well. The missing weight of her cape and shoulder guard suddenly felt like a physical discomfort.

The three of them shared a glance. They nodded.

Adora reached to the side, took hold of a sturdy leafless branch and yanked it off its trunk with seemingly no effort at all; testing its weight in her hands, she wielded as a club. Bow looked around with a slightly panicked expression, before Adora tore off another piece of wood for him. He thanked her profusely and held the sharp stick like a spear. Glimmer simply summoned balls of gleaming light into her hands.

“Oh great, the do-gooder squad.” Catra snarked at them and at her shoulder, Glimmer could see Adora tense. Bow mumbled about being the Best Friends Squad, but mostly kept his irritation to himself.

“Call us what you want, but that won’t stop us from beating you.” She snapped back, but before the Horde commander could retaliate or attack, another authoritative drowned out theirs.

“What is the meaning of this?! This is none of Bright Moon’s business!” Regent Clawdia had turned her attention away from her quarries and was glaring at the newcomers with unbridled fury. If she was ever asked Glimmer would unashamedly compare standing before her to staring down a hungry lioness while pressed against a stone wall.

Some of her soldiers shifted to face them, as if _they_ were the problem. Glimmer glared at them with all her might, daring them to try anything.

“Regent Clawdia, if the Horde is giving you any trouble, we will help you stop them. That’s what we do.” Adora claimed in that sweetly determined, fully convinced voice she usually saved for She-Ra or Queen Angella.

Clawdia only bristled further, tail lashing and teeth bared in an almost-snarl, because a full snarl would break her visage. She pointed a gauntlet-covered hand at Catra and Scorpia. “This is a Faleanes matter and we do not need you or your _escorts_ to interfere.”

“Cla – Regent Clawdia, please understand. We are stronger together! If we stand united, the Horde will be beaten easily. Let us help.” Glimmer pleaded, splitting her attention between the Horde operatives and the regent. Fortunately, Catra and Scorpia were boxed in by the guards and seemed grateful for the break to catch their second wind, so they weren’t preparing any attacks.

“Accepting help from Bright Moon is an equivalent to making a deal with the devil itself.” Clawdia snarled and Glimmer couldn’t help flinching. Through her friends’ enraged shouts, she could only think, _is that really what she thinks of Bright Moon?_

Either not noticing or (more likely) not caring about the young princess’s sudden distress, Clawdia flung her arm out as if she was chasing off mosquitoes. “Leave. We will deal with these pretenders then we will see you out. Don’t try to hide, we know these woods far better than you ever could.”

Glimmer felt she was grasping at straws as she took a desperate step forward. She didn’t miss how half of the Faleanes guards prepared to defend as she did. She latched onto the one part of Clawdia’s sentence that didn’t feel alien and powered through. “Pretenders? So she isn’t really the princess?”

A sigh of relief wanted to explode from the princess, but she fought it back. It wasn’t right to Faleanes that she was happy they hadn’t found their lost royalty. And it wasn’t that she didn’t want them to find her, she was just infinitely grateful it wasn’t _Catra_ of all people. No one who was responsible and _proud_ of all the damage she had caused could ever have been born as a princess. The runestones were from First Ones themselves and they would never allow to fall into such wrong hands.

“Regardless of who she was born as, anyone loyal to the Horde is not welcomed here.” Clawdia threw a nasty look in Catra’s direction, which the young commander returned with equal fire. Glimmer frowned, remembering the rest of the regents claiming otherwise. “Though it is an extremely low blow for the Horde to try. To steal and corrupt a child, they truly know no limit.”

_So she is. Catra is a princess._

From the moment they heard Elder say it, Glimmer had resisted the idea; no matter how stricken Adora looked or how many little details fell into place so quickly. She herself knew little about either the Faleanes princess or Catra, so all she had to go on were other people’s words. Having no concrete proof (a thousand coincidences wouldn’t be enough), doubt festered in her mind, especially when the regents seemed hesitant to accept the idea as well.

But Clawdia didn’t leave any room for skepticism now.

Her voice was firm and matter-of-fact and Glimmer had to plant her feet firmly on the ground to keep from being bowled over by her shock, because now _Etheria’s biggest threat and her had something in common_. Now being a princess didn’t mean she was forever standing on the side of good, it meant that she was just as susceptible to the dark side as everyone else.

She had always known, logically, that having the bloodline she did granted her immunity to sickness and fast healing and maybe immortality, but no resistance to manipulation or the temptations of evil. But it hadn’t quite _hit_ her as thoroughly before as if did now. No princess had gone down the wrong path before, so there had to be something there right?

(Except Scorpia and her entire family, but no one trusted them and everyone taught her that it was better to avoid them because they were too aggressive and acted like war generals rather than princesses, and they had surrendered their entire kingdom to the Horde, so they didn’t really count.)

But Faleanes was a functioning, if a little beat-up, kingdom that was waiting for its missing princess to return while Catra ran the operations that continued to destroy everything. It was more than a little earth-shattering.

Fate wasn’t on their side this day and before Glimmer could properly find her balance again, Catra was charging them with a yowl and activated electric baton; clearly she had regained her energy and was using their distraction to her advantage (that was just like her, wasn’t it?). Bow and Adora raised their make-shift weapons to meet her head-on and a dozen soldiers darted into the fray with them. Metal and wood clashed, claws gleamed in the faint sunlight and Scorpia’s red plating almost glowed blood red as she withdrew from the main skirmish to take down soldiers from behind.

Glimmer shook her head to get herself back on track, summoning her power to teleport into the escalating fight. Before she could, a crushing grip caught her shoulder and threw her back, breaking her concentration. She landed on her knees and elbows, earning herself scratches from thorns and jagged pebbles. When she lifted her head, Clawdia was striding toward her with a look of simmering rage upon her face; the long claws on her gauntlets reflected light menacingly.

The princess scrambled to her feet, disbelief keeping her silent. The regent didn’t wait for her response, lifting her hand to swipe at the air right in from of Glimmer’s face; so close, she could feel the wind created by each individual claw. She flinched back, sinking into a battle stance.

But Clawdia seemed to be finished. “This is your last warning. You will take your escorts, your hidden weapons and will leave Faleanes for good.”

“Why are you so angry with me?” Glimmer screamed back. “Bright Moon isn’t responsible for what happened to your kingdom. We could have helped you back then, we can help you now! Please let us!”

“Why? So we’ll be indebted to you? So you can drag us into your war?” Clawdia snarled accusingly. “You wouldn’t be wasting so much time here if you didn’t want something out of it.”

Glimmer grimaced, not because it was true – she would help even if they didn’t have anything to give in return – but because it was looking less and less likely they would be able to convince them to speed up the healing of the woods (she could clearly forget all about them joining the Rebellion).

“I would offer my assistance against the Horde no matter what.” Glimmer proclaimed, lifting her head as regally as she could. Her mother could pull off the ‘disappointed and offended but polite royal’ much better.

“So it’s personal for you. That makes you only dangerous.”

“What? No! Is it so hard to believe I only want to help?” She asked.

Clawdia clenched her fists, her gauntlets clinking at the motion, and powered through Glimmer’s question. “It’s personal for me too, princess.”

_Huh?_

“When Queen Tigria was killed in battle, do you know who she was protecting?” The regent’s voice wavered ever so slightly and Glimmer thought she might be getting a glance at the real emotion behind the anger. Numbly, the princess shook her head, though she feared she had a pretty good guess.

“Bright Moon.” Clawdia’s tone softened into a low growl at that. “Your mother, Queen Angella, sent us a distress message, saying that Queen Tigria’s power and connection with the Whispering Woods was the only thing that could save your kingdom.”

Glimmer felt a black hole opening under her stomach, swallowing everything.

“So Queen Tigria goes to answer your call for help – on her own, long after we left the Princess Alliance and thus owed Bright Moon nothing – and uses the Tiger’s Eye’s power to make the Whispering Woods into a weapon that will use everything in its arsenal to stop the Horde from progressing further. But that was a massive output of power and since you might not know, if you call upon too much power from a runestone at once, you might lose your connection to it. Worse yet, losing something so deeply interwoven with your very life force has lethal consequences.”

_No, no, no, no!_

Glimmer’s mind jumped, unbidden, to the week of glitching and pain and fear after she had summoned more power than ever before to break through Shadow Weaver’s bonds and rescue Adora. There had been a hole in her that she couldn’t fill until her power was restored. There had been a seemingly irrational fear that cut deep into her and made her as jumpy as a rabbit in a wolf’s den, as though some part of her had known that what she had done she might not recover from.

She had gotten lucky; Queen Tigria from the sound of it, didn’t. She gave her life to protect Bright Moon. She was the one who made sure the Horde couldn’t reach any other kingdom for a decade; now they had She-Ra, so they stood a chance, but Tigria’s sacrifice might have saved the entire Rebellion. _How many times have I taken the Whispering Woods and their protection for granted?_

More importantly, _does that mean no one will be able to heal them?_

A shriek of pain and enraged snarls reminded of the fight happening beside her and the logical part of her mind told her that Adora and Bow were sorely outnumbered against both the Horde and Faleanes soldiers, if they turned on them like Clawdia had turned on her. She needed to go help them.

Feet moving not of her own accord, she spun on her heel and bolted for the battle. Once again, a clawed hand grabbed her shoulder in a painful grip and attempted to pull her back. Attempted, because Glimmer willed herself to move and teleported a few meters forward. She ducked, saving herself from a strike from those wicked claws, bracing herself to fight back–

“ENOUGH!”

The roar that split the air wasn’t as authoritative as her mother’s ‘furious queen’ voice, but was twice as loud and perfectly capable of stopping a raging battle in its tracks. The dozen soldiers snapped away from their opponents and saluted with their hands over their hearts as a single unit. Catra and Scorpia inched away from the fight, putting space between themselves and everyone else. Adora and Bow flailed in surprise at the loss of opponents, then decided to retreat to Glimmer’s side.

Coming through the same bushes as the Best Friends Squad did, the rest of the regent council and several guards filed into the clearing. The regents alternated between glaring at Clawdia and the five guests.

Caracal marched forward with purpose and Glimmer braced herself for whatever punishment was forthcoming, but his feet took him to Clawdia instead. She stared in surprise – actually, everyone involved in the fight stared – as he gave his fellow regent a guarded look.

“Regent Clawdia, you have not been authorized to call an entire squad of soldiers into action. What is the meaning of this?” His scratchy voice gave his words a special severity. “Not only that, but you have attacked your princess and her companion.”

Everyone ignored Catra’s snapped response of not being a princess. Clawdia drew herself up to her full height, at least half a head above Caracal, and stared the entire council down with her unwavering blue gaze. “The Horde was responsible for our queen’s passing and kidnapped our princess. Anyone who swears allegiance to them can not be allowed to rule Faleanes.”

Another regent stepped up to them, so tall Glimmer felt like a three-year-old kid again just staring up at her. Her voice was deep and seemed to vibrate through the small princess’ chest. “She hadn’t known her legacy, Clawdia. Her actions are inexcusable, but not irredeemable. You didn’t even give her that chance.”

“She claimed to be loyal to those murderers! There is no redemption for her!” Glimmer hated to agree with people who attacked her, but Clawdia was talking sense. Her visibly cracking posture and failing regal image, on the other hand, she felt absolutely no respect for.

A regent with tanned skin and long wavy hair who Glimmer thought was named Lionella gestured to the Bright Moon trio incredulously, then let her arm fall and muffled a resigned groan in her other hand. “And your reason for attacking a visiting Princess not from the Horde is?”

Clawdia spluttered only for a moment. “Bright Moon asked too much of our queen and got her killed.”

“So you’re taking your anger out on a child who wasn’t even alive back then because Bright Moon got into a troublesome situation.” Lionella’s deadpan tone could rival Mermista’s. As Clawdia puffed out her chest and protested, Pantha turned her emerald green gaze on Glimmer and then Catra.

“Is it true she was the one who attacked you?” She asked all of them, even giving the involved soldiers a dirty look.

Catra scoffed wordlessly and Scorpia nodded while Glimmer relayed the events she had seen in as much detail as she could. Scorpia added what had happened before they got involved and Glimmer listened with more than a little doubt. Because according to the Horde princess, the regent had been the one to threaten them and initiate the fight, which left the Horde operatives as the wronged innocent party.

Before she could call them out on it, a scuffle from the direction of the regents caught her attention and she turned in time to see three guards take hold of Clawdia to pull her off of a startled Lynxer and keep her in place. She hissed and snarledfuriously, but the only thing Glimmer could really understand was Tigria’s reoccurring name.

Caracal, Lionella and Leorda escorted the guards away, back to the town while Lynxer scowled after them, trying to fix the crumpled front of his fancy suit, and Pantha addressed the guests’ curious expression. “Clawdia will be stripped of her title and punished for treason. For her actions today as well as in the past. There are some instances that come to mind when a potential ally or guest left unexpectedly that we might need to question her about. Queen Tigria’s passing hurt her more than the rest of us.”

Glimmer perked up, hope fluttering in her chest like a newly-hatched bird, fragile and vulnerable but determined. “Regent Pantha, now that this is over with, I have a request for you. For the entire regency, actually.”

The black-haired woman raised an interested eyebrow, motioning for her to continue. “Would you please consider joining the Princess Alliance? I know your kingdom has suffered much because of this war, so I won’t ask you to join us on the battlefield, but I would like to ask for one favor.”

“A favor?”

“Yes. About the Whispering Woods. They were damaged during the snowstorm and are no longer keeping the Horde’s armies at bay. If there is anything you can do, please help them recover to what they were as soon as possible.” Glimmer nearly pleaded. She knew she was supposed to be a diplomat and part of that was never letting others know just how desperate she was, but Faleanes was literally their only hope at the moment and with the Horde gathering at their borders, every second counted.

Pantha sadly shook her head, looking thoroughly apologetic as she did. “I’m afraid that’s not possible. Only a princess with a connection to the runestone has to power to command the woods. And even then, last time it took all of Queen Tigria’s power to strengthen the woods when they were healthy.”

Oh no. That was exactly what she didn’t want to hear.

“With the state they are in, nothing can be done. We need to let nature heal at its own pace this time.” Pantha paused, then sighed heavily. “And on the subject of the Princess Alliance, I’m afraid Faleanes won’t be joining you.”

“What, why? We are always stronger together. We need to join forces to beat the threat of the Horde!” Glimmer cried, throwing her arms out.

Lynxer had given up on his clothes and butted into their conversation rather rudely. “We can’t join a war simply on your words. We will need to confer with history and our advisers to find the best course of action for Faleanes.”

“And we cannot take the opposing side of our Princess.” Pantha added and again everyone ignored Catra’s angry protests.

“She’s no princess – She said so herself!” Glimmer snapped.

“She is the elder’s niece.” Lynxer’s voice left no space for arguments. “The Princess makes the final decision.”

“Then you’ll be waiting for a long time, because I’m not who you think I am.” Catra snarled, then abruptly turned on her heel and marched away, Scorpia stumbling to keep up. Glimmer had to admit, the grace with which the feline girl moved through the forest was unusual, but she wasn’t yet ready to chalk it up to her being Faleanes’ princess. That was a fact she’d be wrestling with for a while.

Glimmer stared after them for a moment, then gave the regents her attention again when Pantha spoke. “Perhaps it’d be for the best if you left as well. It’s getting late and you don’t seem prepared to stay overnight.”

Something about her tone told the princess that it was not a suggestion but an order. Resisting mostly for the sake of fighting back, she opened her mouth to argue, but Adora’s hand felt on one of her shoulders and Bow’s on the other. Her friends gently tugged her away before she could go and do something stupid.

Slowly, but far too quickly for Glimmer, they discarded their temporary weapons and pulled her along with them into the bushes and out of sight. For as long as she could, Glimmer sent her best accusing look at Pantha, but she didn’t fight her friends.

The walked in silence and with no distractions, Glimmer could only observe the forest as the vegetation thinned out and blackened and more and more damp fallen trees littered the forest floor. Thinking back, she realized that in Faleanes there had been, in addition to the greenery, also a trace of birdsong every few minutes and the sounds of rodents picking through the fallen rotting leaves.

Now everything was silent again.

Bow buried his face in his digital screen to avoid having to look at the damage and Adora switched between angry and hurt the entire way. Thanks to Bow’s undivided focus they found their discarded armor and weapons relatively quickly and wasted no time in putting them where they belonged. But by the time they did, Adora was swaying on her feet a little and Glimmer herself couldn’t stop yawning and the sky was turning a beautiful sleepy dark blue.

Before they knew it, they wordlessly, unanimously decided they weren’t making it all the way to Bright Moon and settled down to rest. But even as they relaxed their muscles and started a fire to warm themselves up, the mood stayed negative and Glimmer could understand why. They hadn’t completed their mission, found out the Woods couldn’t actually be healed or restored to their former glory without a trained princess of Faleanes and might have just made a kingdom join forces with the Horde. Not to mention that she doubted they would be welcomed in Faleanes again.

In short, they had failed spectacularly.

In her mind’s eye, she replayed the entire day, trying to see what they could have done better, but there really wasn’t much. Not losing track of either of the Horde operatives might have been better, but following them around had not worked out well at the Princess Prom. And Catra had all of the regents except Clawdia practically wrapped around her finger with her pretenses (which were apparently true and the Horde really didn’t know any bottom line).

But between Clawdia’s unexpected turnabout and attack, the elder’s revelation and the weight of failure on her shoulders, there was one seemingly insignificant remark that kept returning to Glimmer.

_You make me wish I wasn’t a princess._

The words sat in her mind like a physical weight, one she couldn’t discard and be done with. It was like a puzzle piece she didn’t want of a puzzle she had no desire to see, but that she kept returning to simply because it frustrated her that it didn’t fit. It didn’t make sense and it wouldn’t leave her alone no matter how many times she reminded herself that she didn’t care to know a Horde operative’s backstory.

Her restless silence and agitation must have shown in her rigid posture, because Adora stopped tending to the fire to share a look with Bow. He set down the arrow he was tinkering with to scoot closer to where Glimmer was sitting cross-legged.

Before he could say whatever consoling speech he was preparing, she interrupted him with a bit out: “I’m _fine_!”

Adora straightened as though struck by lightning at her tone, eyeing her warily, but Bow was much more used to the princess’ short temper and thus didn’t even startle. Instead he crossed his legs and let his knee rest against hers lightly, leaning back as though nothing was amiss. But it was and all three of them knew it and even though Glimmer was used to his welcoming silence dragging answers out of her involuntarily, she still couldn’t resist.

“When I was talking to Scorpia, she said she doesn’t want to be a princess.” She begrudgingly said, glowering at Bow in a half-hearted fashion. Damn him for knowing her dislike of silence. “She said it like it was our – my – fault, like being a princess is something to be ashamed of!”

With an explosive huff, she fell back beside Bow, throwing all of her limbs into the air to fully articulate her frustration. Flames swelled and dulled as Adora fed the fire a few more twigs, then came to sit on Glimmer’s other side. Tentatively, she copied their positions on the ground and put her arms behind her head like a pillow.

“I don’t think it’s what she really thinks,” she said, “but princesses aren’t portrayed as good in the Horde. She probably just picked up that mindset.”

Silence reigned for a time while Glimmer thoughtfully chewed on her lower lip and stared at the leafless canopy above them. If she strained her eyes, she could even see a few constellations in the darkening sky. Bow shifted to her right, then spoke when he settled.

“You know,” he started hesitantly. “Scorpia doesn’t strike me as so bad.”

Glimmer shot up like she just realized she’d been laying on a bed of hot coals. “What?! She’s from the Horde! She kidnapped and poisoned us! She attacked Salineas _and_ Bright Moon!”

“ _Helped_ attack and kidnap only.” He countered, a frown pulling at his features. Glimmer gaped at him silently, trying to remember any time when he could have been replaced. Maybe splitting up had not been a good idea at all.

He took her speechlessness as invitation to continue. “I mean, she had to have orders and I can’t imagine the Horde would be okay with her disobeying them, right? She wasn’t even the one to make the decision to join the Horde; she was a kid back then.”

Glimmer shut her mouth with a _click_ of her teeth, turning the new perspective over in her mind. That… wasn’t something she’d ever stopped to think about. Could it be possible? She didn’t think so, but Bow was still looking solemn and Adora frown pensively, and she found she had to at least consider it.

“And she’s got this really catchy chipper attitude and is generally actually nice. She could have been a lot worse to me back in the Fright Zone.” Bow mumbled the last part more to himself than them.

“You mean when she threw you into prison?” Glimmer shot back sharply, because apparently Bow had forgotten that crucial piece of information.

He shrugged in response, “she was brought up as a princess before the Horde came. She can’t be completely evil if she remembers her roots.”

Glimmer’s incredulity was reaching new levels, as she accentuated with a raised eyebrow. “You think she isn’t as loyal to the Horde as she seems?”

“I mean, maybe? Maybe she stays because it’s all she knows, like Adora did.” The ex-Horde soldier winced at Glimmer’s side, but a spark of inspiration had entered her eye and her mind seemed to be running a mile a minute. “Or she doesn’t want to leave her family. We don’t know.”

“You think we could get her on our side,” the princess said more than asked, doubt coloring her tone. She traced patterns in the dry brown fragile moss under her hands, struggling with herself and this new dangerous territory. “That she’ll see our side and sympathize because she’s a princess.”

It didn’t sound as impossible as she thought when she said it out loud. It was risky and outrageous, sure, downright idiotic, but a small voice in her head reminded her that Scorpia hadn’t gotten a choice when her family deserted the other princesses. Maybe she wasn’t as bad deep down. If they could get her to see that being a princess was an honor.

“Not just her, though.” Bow cut into her thoughts. “Maybe Kyle too.”

“You mean the kid you met in _prison_?” She asked with wild hand gestures, drawing a snort out of Adora.

Bow still only looked thoughtful. “He wasn’t like the Horde at all. A little desperate and anxious, sure, but he seemed like a decent guy.”

Adora nodded at the sky, eyes glazed over with memory. “Kyle was always nice.”

Glimmer glanced at one of her friends, then the other and silently decided that they really needed to sleep because exhaustion was starting to rot their brains and common sense. Still, they looked far too awake to be falling asleep anytime soon, so she decided to indulge them for a moment, if only so they’d have something to laugh about in the morning. “What are you getting at Bow?”

Bow thought about his response too much for someone delirious with tiredness. “I think, I think we can find a way to recruit people _from_ the Horde to the Rebellion. Kinda like Adora.”

The princess gaped at him for the second time in five minutes, alarm bells going off like sirens in her head. “That’s crazy. We’d be welcoming spies with open arms!”

Bow sat up next to her, waving his hands in a placating gesture to cool her before she exploded. “No, wait, hear me out. I’m not saying put up banners and ask Hordak for permission, but something behind the scenes. People that either Adora remembers or thinks can see our point of view.”

Well, he was still thinking clearly it seemed. She eyed him dubiously, once again entertaining the notion that the Horde could replace people with identical robotic copies. Was that possible? “That’s still risky.”

“We don’t have to do it right away, but it’s something to consider. It could be a great advantage if we do it right.” He said.

“Or a complete disaster if we miscalculate with someone.” Glimmer muttered crossly, silently adding, _just like this mission_. Adora watched them like a spectator viewing a wrestling match, wide-eyed and entranced with the promise of violence. The princess looked down on her hands and startled at the sight of glowing sparkles.

Shaking her powers away, she looked to Bow again. “Besides, who would we even start with? Scorpia?”

He stilled at her question, eyes jumping around them before setting on Adora almost guiltily. She raised an eyebrow in return. Bow rubbed the back on his neck nervously. “Maybe we could try with Catra. Adora, you said she’s not a bad person and I believe you.”

Glimmer barely heard the rest of his sentence; her guard was slammed up as soon as Catra’s name fell from Bow’s lips. “Absolutely not. She’s the second-in-command to Hordak! That’s like the second worst person ever. Maybe third, since there’s also Shadow Weaver, but that’s still too bad!”

Bow countered the strength of her outburst like he rarely did. “If she was Adora’s friend for so long, she can’t be as bad as Shadow Weaver.”

Glimmer screamed behind her closed lips, just barely holding herself back from shouting aloud, because the _proof of Catra’s evil was all around them!_ Bow’s beloved Whispering Woods were dying before their eyes, the Rebellion was exposed, both of them had been captured and held for ransom, their friend and fellow princess (and Bow’s idol) had _died_ trying to save them and Adora’s back was marred with permanent scars because of Catra. Whoever she had been around Adora was no more.

But she hadn’t tried to manipulate Adora (yet), which Glimmer begrudgingly counted as one positive in a sea of negatives. And she had helped them escape, for whatever selfish reason.

“Alright, so Shadow Weaver is probably worse, but do you still want a person like that watching your back?” She grumbled. Before Bow could reply, Adora cut him off.

“Was.”

“Huh?” Both of her friends turned to look at her; she was the only one still laying down. Noticing their confused looks, she hurried to elaborate. “Shadow Weaver. She _was_ probably the second worst person in the Horde. And she was the second in command."

It didn’t take long for things to click in Glimmer’s mind and Bow didn’t seem far behind.

“What, seriously?”

“But, how is Catra–”

Adora shook her head to cut them off. “I don’t know. It would mean that Shadow Weaver wasn’t fit for it anymore… but the only way I can see her stepping down is if she was, if she was–”

“Dead?” Glimmer filled in bluntly.

“Or seriously injured, but like, never walking again or something.” Adora hastily amended, but it wasn’t hard to guess which options she was expecting. Pensive silence stretched between them. It wasn’t like they were mourning the sorceress’ passing – except Adora a little, maybe – but they had spent so much time looking over their shoulders and jumping at shadows because they thought they were being watched by her spies it was a weird feeling to know that couldn’t be the case anymore. Not a bad one, a bit relieving, but a bit disconcerting.

Adora shook herself from the trance first. “But Glimmer’s right, about–about Catra. I keep wishing I could make her see my side, but every time I try, she just pushes me further away. She’s, she’s not the person I knew. It’s like talking to a stranger who hates me.”

She sounded so melancholic and miserable that without prompting, both of her friends scooped her up in their arms and pretended not to notice the wetness in her eyes as she’d want them to. Adora kept them close for a minute, then gently pushed them away. She discreetly wiped her eyes and Glimmer felt horribly guilty that she was glad that Adora was leaving Catra behind. It would be a hard journey, but she thought it would be for the best in the end.

She seemed to collect herself enough to give them a determined look. “Maybe one day. One day she’ll stop being so angry and start healing and then she’ll see how bad the Horde is. One day, when she’s not trying to prove anything anymore and then we can try to fix what we had.”

Glimmer internally thought that after someone waged war against you, there was no going back to what they once had, but kept quiet. Maybe Adora could work miracles as much as She-Ra could. As if catching her thoughts, Adora unhooked the sword from her back and held it in front of her eyes, gently tracing its carvings. She was resolute when she spoke. “But for now, I have to let her go.”

She sat up and set the sword down next to her, like a morbid version of a plush toy. She leaned her head on Bow’s shoulder and Glimmer let herself lean against her slumped body. They stayed like that for a long while, Bow’s hand eventually coming up to give Adora a side hug and playfully ruffle Glimmer’s hair.

“What do we do now?” She asked, fighting down a powerful yawn and blinking her eyes blearily. Bow stayed silent and soft audible breaths from him told her that he was dead to the world, but Adora looked at her with steely eyes.

“We get back to Bright Moon and report to Angella. We’ll get ready for the Horde and start building a new obstacle, a wall or traps, maybe. And we’ll work out the details of Bow’s plan.” She said confidently. Glimmer hummed in response, trying to keep the information in her mind. _Get back to Bright Moon and a proper bed, that sounds nice. What was Bow’s plan again?_

A drawn out groan of “shuuut up,” reached her ears just before Bow let his body fall backwards, leaving Adora and Glimmer to collapse in a pile on top of him. Sleep was already stealing her from the world and she decided that her friends were comfortable enough as pillows and closed her eyes.

It would be alright. There was nothing they couldn’t do if they worked together. And half a dozen powerful princesses with armies were a good back-up plan.

Before oblivion could take her completely, something bony jabbed into her side, making her grunt.

“Adora, put your elbow away.”

“Get off of me first.”

“If you both don’t shut up, I’ll make sure to snore loudly.”

“Don’t you dare!”

Well, they’d be alright if they made it through the night first.


	4. Catra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, finally Catra. I wish I could say I was proud of this chapter, since it was the one that inspired the whole fic, but I'm not. I will try to go back and revise it later, when I've had more than four hours of sleep. No plot will change, just the wording.
> 
> Btw, I'm not sure if its true but I found mentions that Hordak has a cybernetic body, is that true? I used it in the chapter, but I don't know if it's right.

Catra watched, entranced, as Ms Whiskers hand touched the smooth surface of the Tiger’s Eye. She fought back a flinch, thinking back to the Black Garnet, but the elder’s hand glided over the stone with no violent sparks of magic, merely a gentle ripple. The bright pupil of the stone seemed to focus down on them without moving and the young commander felt inexplicably small; she squared her shoulders in response, glaring at the stone as though it was a living opponent.

Ms. Whiskers turned to her, not taking her hand off of the runestone, and gently waved her closer. Catra drew her ears back and clenched her teeth, but she marched forward; showing fear would only make it worse. Besides, this wasn’t the Black Garnet or Shadow Weaver and Catra was no longer a helpless child. It didn’t matter if the runestone sent the same thrill of danger down her spine or if the room was just as dark as Shadow Weaver’s or how Catra was once again staring down an old woman with her hand on a powerful stone.

She had beaten Shadow Weaver. She could beat the fear just the same.

Lifting her head, she stared the Ms Whiskers down, apprehension building with the silence. Finally, the elder smiled a knowing smile and gestured to the runestone with her free hand. “This is Faleanes’s runestone, the Tiger’s Eye. It grants powers to anyone connected to it, as you must know all runestones do. The gift it bestows upon a princess can differ with everyone’s unique personality.”

The stone’s soft orange light seemed to pulse with Ms Whiskers’ words. Catra felt it almost like a hand smoothing down her bristling fur and immediately switched her glare from the elder to the stone. Ms Whiskers didn’t seem to notice. “But beyond that, the runestone is connected to the Whispering Woods itself. It’s only by its power that they stand strong and heal. And a princess can share this connection. It grants them the ability to navigate the forest and understand its secrets, but also its pain and sorrow. It’s a double-edged blade.”

Catra knew she should be planning and plotting as soon as those words left the old woman’s lips. This piece of rock was all she needed to deal with to ensure the Woods would never be a problem again. If she destroyed it or somehow took control of it (forged a connection to it), she would be free to push against Bright Moon with no worries. But instead, all she could think of was the soothing feel of the runestone’s power so close to her, gentle like an ocean at rest, a stark contrast to the Black Garnet, which always reminded her of Shadow Weaver herself, volatile and violent and endlessly malicious, something that took pleasure in other’s pain.

“That’s why it has built this chamber for itself. While other runestones induce safety and good will, the Tiger’s Eye brings its princess empathy.” Ms Whiskers said and placed a finger on Catra’s chest, right over her heart. “It’s not just anyone who can wield its power; I myself have never been able to handle it. But I think despite what you say and do, you are capable of a lot more empathy than most. As a princess, that empathy and your strength could grant you a very stable rule.”

“Stop calling me a princess,” Catra growled out, batting the hand away like it burned her. The elder didn’t flinch at her tone and lowered her hand without protest. “And you’re barking up the wrong tree if you think I’m wasting time feeling sorry for others. So I guess I can’t ‘wield the Tiger’s Eye power’ if I look only after myself.”

“Is that really the truth?” Ms Whiskers countered without missing a beat, an irritating knowing look in her eyes.

“ _Yes._ _”_

Catra was well aware that she should be buttering the old woman up and squeezing as much information as she could out of her. But she had never been good at staying rational when runestones were involved and just the memory of crackling red energy racing to catch up to her made her hackles rise. _No more_ , she promised herself. She was stronger than that, than this gentle humming that lulled her into vulnerability. She was strong because she didn’t give up, because she didn’t let herself be knocked down, because she didn’t let anyone hold power over her. She had become as powerful as she was on her own, bruises and cuts and low self-esteem all included. By her own claws and teeth and determination. She wasn’t going to disregard it all to depend on a runestone.

She was strong because she didn’t give up, not because some higher force decided she was their champion or whatever. She’d change her destiny just to prove to everyone who looked down on her that _fate_ didn’t decide anything.

And she’d start with making Faleanes’ throne-holder and her possible relative see she wasn’t going to be swayed by pretty words. That had already happened too many times.

“If that is true, then why did you want your friend to accompany you here?”

“She’s not my friend, she’s a force captain in my command so she has to watch my back.” Catra snapped. It didn’t matter that it didn’t sound right to her ears. It was a fact, one that wasn’t going to change. Apparently, Ms Whiskers could read minds because her smile turned slightly impish.

“Very well,” she said so flippantly, the younger feline inched away cautiously. “If that’s how you wish to call it. Now, place your hand on the Tiger’s Eye.”

Catra turned distrusting eyes from the elder to the runestone and almost instinctively took a step back. Tail flicking with indecision, she contemplated just how much she should trust this old woman over her past experience with a runestone. Ms Whiskers’ expression suddenly became thunderous and her gaze locked on something over Catra’s head. She looked over her shoulder in time to see Scorpia, who had been only a few steps behind her, disappear behind a curtain of vines and leaves.

_Traitor_ , she seethed internally. That was exactly why she didn’t let herself trust anyone else, because without a warning, they could turn on her and sink her. _Never again_.

On the outside, she barely spared the waving fronds of vegetation a second glance, refocusing instead on Ms Whiskers. She was still looking at her expectantly, waiting for her to quiver with fear and bolt no doubt. Catra stared down the runestone and lifted her hand with no visible hesitation just to prove her wrong. She wasn’t ever running from anything again.

Her fingers touched the roots holding up the runestone, gaining certainty from their warm, soft back and a lack of reaction from the stone. Maybe this was all a mistake and they’d finally see she wasn’t some lost princess (and she _wasn’t_ , definitely not, not now not ever.). Claws unsheathed from anticipation, her hand made contact with the surface of the powerful artifact.

It… didn’t hurt. There were no violent sparks or pain, no malicious gleam of red or shadows. A low humming filled her ears, filtering out her surroundings, and her palm felt warm, a welcoming warmth instead of scorching. It was a difference she wasn’t sure she was alright with.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the glowing flora in between the great trees’ roots shine brighter and pulse. Unbidden, her mind was reminded of a heartbeat and when she looked forward again, she saw the Tiger’s Eye glowing with the same rhythm, brightest at the base where her hand touched it.

She should have felt anger or at least disgust, or maybe her long-buried fear, but instead her heart slowed from its adrenaline high and her muscles relaxed. The humming in her ears intensified and she realized it was actually a myriad of voices murmuring to her, too soft to be understood or heard alone, but together they made whispers into a roar. Her claws retracted as if of their own accord and she traced her hand over the runestone, watching as it rippled like the surface of a pond. Her eyes were wide as she took a small step forward and raised her other hand, fully intending to touch it to the peaceful runestone…

Then her mind snapped back into focus and she tore herself away from it, hissing and baring her teeth almost feral-like. She stumbled back another step, shaking her head at the ridiculous need to go right back to the Tiger’s Eye. Its power flowing through her veins, even for a second, had been an addicting feeling. And not just the power, the runestone seemed to sooth the most jaded part of her mind and erase the baseless roiling anger that she had felt all her life. Anger at Shadow Weaver, at the older cadets, the soldiers, everyone who pushed her aside for Adora.

An infinite fury at Adora, too.

And through her confusing muddled thoughts, she noticed Ms Whiskers giving her a gentle look from the side, her hand no longer on the stone. The entire chamber darkened and silenced and it was such a small difference that it shouldn’t feel like such a deprivation, but it did. The elder took Catra’s hands, which she’d had clasped in front of her chest protectively, into her own and held them tightly between them. The girl was still reeling too much to snatch them back.

“Now you see. The Tiger’s Eye accepts you like it didn’t accept me. You have the potential I knew you did. To empathize, to inspire. And to survive.” She said, voice full of feeling and persuasion.

Catra, feeling more of herself returning to reality, only tore her hands free and clenched them at her sides. She didn’t need this. She didn’t need a stone to survive. She had been doing just fine, better than fine actually, till now and she would continue in that fashion. To emphasize her thoughts, she spun on her heel and strode to the edge of the chamber, ignoring the pull that beckoned her in the other direction, and left the elder to try to keep up. Still, it didn’t discourage her from talking, unfortunately.

“You have been hurt; a lot I’d wager, for so long you think that’s how the world works. But even though you try to arm yourself against emotions, you are an inspiration for others. Your friend is just one such person. Those are people who will stand beside you to the end, when you’re ready to begin healing your spirit.” Ms Whiskers prattled on and try as she might, Catra couldn’t tune her out. “The Tiger’s Eye sees this too and it accepts you. It’ll still be here when you’re ready to accept it back.”

They reached the fronds hiding them from the outside world and Catra pushed through, shielding her eyes from the bright sunlight outside. All she had to do was find Scorpia and get out. They knew where this kingdom was, they could return whenever they needed. But their mission couldn’t be completed, because to stop the Whispering Woods from healing meant destroying the Tiger’s Eye and not only did Catra never plan to get close to it again, without a proper tank or firepower, they wouldn’t get far. They needed to get back to the Fright Zone, ease Hordak into the fact that they made contact with the enemy without his permission and gather up what they needed to launch a full assault. Maybe get Entrapta to design machines that would be able to get up the mountains easier.

  


She still didn’t know what the deal was with Faleanes that Hordak himself felt was necessary to hide. She… had a sinking suspicion, but it seemed stupid. If what all that had been said was true, then the Horde had known all along who she was and where she came from, but why risk erasing all traces about a whole kingdom just because of her. They were practically inviting Faleanes to attack them while they had no information and no prepared defenses. Hordak wouldn’t leave himself exposed like that.

And if they were doing it because of her, why go through so much trouble? No one had thought of her as noteworthy before, not enough to consider her a possible threat. Even if she’d tried to run away to rejoin Faleanes (something she might have done, once upon a time), her chances of getting out of the Fright Zone were so small they might have not existed. It was only recently that she had become strong enough to break the shackles Shadow Weaver had placed on her and now she was loyal to the Horde.

( _Loyal to the Horde? Why? What did they ever do to gain my loyalty? No one so much as acknowledged I existed until I made them see._ )

Her gut churned uneasily, wondering what else she was being kept from. Had they known Adora was going to find the sword and desert the Horde? Had she been brought in just to give her an emotional anchor in the Horde? _Look how that worked out_. Shadow Weaver had sure acted with a strange desperation when she found out about Adora’s disappearance and later She-Ra.

Just thinking of the old hag made her blood boil.

She… didn’t know what she was feeling exactly, but the constant anger that had been with her her entire life was slowly setting back in and she felt a little more like herself. She would deal with it. _No one_ was going to pull a blindfold over her eyes. She didn’t care if it was her supposed aunt or her closest friend or even Hordak himself.

* * *

_Riiip!_

With a violent shower of insides, another punching bag met its end at Catra’s claws. Stuffing and tattered strips of fabric fell to a heap at her feet and she angrily kicked it away, watching it tumble and join a bigger pile in the corner of the room. Still, even with the carcasses of several punching bags and a staff she’d shattered, she could only feel the constant cold anger. She flexed her fingers, sheathing and unsheathing her claws restlessly, weighting the pros and cons of seeking out a more durable target.

Her hands felt cold, knuckles numb and fingertips cold when they touched her palm. Even through the hasty bandages she had thrown on, she could feel the freezing temperature of the Fright Zone. The coolness of the floor that had never before bothered her now stung her bare toes and her fur bristled despite the fact that she was sweating through her shirt.

It had never felt cold in the Fright Zone, no in this way. It had always been a little cool, just on the edge of being uncomfortable; once upon a time, she had another to cuddle up to and stay warm through the night and who kept her on her toes and her adrenaline flowing. Now she only had herself and the nights had been colder than ever the last few days.

But she’d never felt in during the day.

Adrenaline rushing in her bloodstream in possibly dangerously high quantities, the penetrating cold still invaded her skin and refused to leave. This wasn’t just the low temperature of the air, this was a freeze that almost seemed to come from inside her, from an empty space she’d only newly discovered. The same empty space that had been, for but a second, filled by a runestone’s power and warmth.

Without Catra’s permission, her hands throbbed for the welcoming touch of the smooth stone and her heart cried after the loss of whatever connection had existed for that second.

She squashed the feeling down, spinning around to deliver a devastating kick to the abused punching bag. It rattled on its chain and swung away from her, flopping in the air like a fish out of water. Sweat dripped down her forehead and nose, one drop falling into her eye. Hissing, she rubbed it away and reached up to tear away the metal headdress from her head.

Without looking, she flung it away, listening to the sounds of it colliding wit ha wall and falling to the ground. A wrist rose up to wipe away the excess perspiration gathered where it had sat; still dampness remained on her face. Groaning in annoyance, Catra snagged a towel from a nearby rack, burying her face in it.

After she dried her head and arms as well as she could, her eyes wandered over to where she’d discarded her signature headpiece. The simple bent metal and cheap paint looked like nothing special just sitting on the floor like that; but to her, it held a story only she knew. Even Adora didn’t know the significance of it.

Her former friend thought she wore it simply because she liked its cat-inspired shape and to annoy their superiors by not conforming, and that was true. But the thing also chafed against her cheeks and irritated her ears and would sometimes slip and create itchy red indents in her forehead. But she held onto it, because to her, it was a symbol of her strength.

It was the spoils of her first win against Shadow Weaver.

She’d found the mask randomly, kicked into the corner of a nondescript room she wasn’t supposed to be in. She had been seething back then, partially because of the drill master ignoring her progress and part because Shadow Weaver had decided to get involved. The mask had gleamed in the light from the open doorway and from the moment Catra saw it, she decided it was hers, mostly because it was something people wanted to discard and forget and she was there to remind them that she wouldn’t be ignored.

It had taken weeks of enduring Shadow Weaver’s taunts and magic punishments (she refused to let go of the mask even in her sleep and the sorceress couldn’t get it away from her) before she had had enough and, for the first time in her life, stood up to face the woman who raised and tormented her and told her confidently that _no, she wasn’t getting rid of it_. What followed was more of the same, but just the exhilaration of having resisted made her keep fighting back.

In the end, Shadow Weaver had backed off and, though she made it seem like she simply didn’t care, Catra experienced her first hard-won victory.

Now she’d beaten Shadow Weaver completely and technically the headpiece wasn’t a taunt to anyone anymore, but it felt so much like her that she couldn’t let go of it. It had been her start, in a way. It had turned her from the meek second-best cadet with no story into a one woman resistance.

Catra reached down and curled her fingers under the mask. Black eyes painted on the bronze surface stared back at her; she gave a small crooked smile. Her hands deftly flipped it over and set it against her face, brushing aside stays hairs. Her cheeks flared with minimal pain and her forehead still felt too damp with sweat under it, but she took comfort in the familiar sensations. It felt good to have it back.

She had resisted Shadow Weaver’s mind tricks and the older cadets’ tormenting and she could resist this call inside of her that made her look at the Whispering Woods through every available window. _It will pass_ , she told herself sternly.

Turning back to the carnage that had been her private training room – benefit of her high position – Catra contemplated it for a moment. Unless she wanted rumors to spread about being unstable or unfit for her position, she was going to have to clean it up herself. Blowing out an irate sigh, she started sweeping the fluffs and torn leather with her feet into a far corner. The busted bags she left laying where they’d fallen; those would be a _pain_ to pick up and dispose off one by one.

A shrill short beep interrupted her unenthusiastic work. Heterochromatic eyes narrowed at the only screen in the room, a small thing in the wall shielded with a thicker glass case than normal with a pull-up keyboard underneath. Without her prompting, it lit up, spluttering with static for a moment before the image and sound cleared and Catra found herself staring at Hordak’s emotionless visage.

Habit dictated that she glowered and ignored him, but her rational mind had her straightening up and giving a practiced bow. Here motions were smooth and on time, but the dictator’s red eyes narrowed with something akin to suspicion. Catra stayed bend at the hips, scowling face turned to the floor and watching her superior from the corner of her eye. For a long moment, he said and did nothing, letting Catra wallow in uncertainty.

Had they slipped up somehow?

She and Scorpia had stayed in Faleanes much longer than she had planned; it was supposed to be a quick in and out to get the kingdom’s exact location and evaluate their opinion on the war, maybe even poke around their defenses and runestone to come up with a plan of attack. Instead, they had stayed there until dusk and only left because Clawdia had chased them out. Other than finding out that the Horde had covered up her past (which wasn’t as surprising as it was infuriating) and that no one held the power of the Tiger’s Eye, they had no idea where Faleanes stood on the subject of the war (so far they stayed neutral, but there was no telling which way they would lean when push came to shove) and had no time to assess their defensive or offensive capabilities.

Simmering with fury, Catra had stalked to her training room as soon as they had stepped into the Fright Zone’s main building. Scorpia had headed off on her own, probably to go keep Entrapta company while she worked, but not before Catra ordered her to “keep your mouth shut and pretend we never left,” and dense as she could be at times, the princess wasn’t one to disobey direct orders.

Which would leave only Entrapta with knowledge about their whereabouts and Catra wondered if she had blabbered about their mission to someone; she wouldn’t put it past the engineer to forget that it was secret. But the problem was that very few people knew Entrapta was in the Horde and even less would have reasons to seek her out. She rarely left her lab and when she did, she traveled entirely by vents only, and many people didn’t find her rants to be worth enduring.

The only way she could see being found out was if something had needed her attention and Hordak had tried to contact her.

It wasn’t impossible; ever since she took down Shadow Weaver and became his second-in-command, he had been putting her in charge of troop disposition and recourse managing. She was responsible for their drawn-out strategy, to expand the Horde’s territory into the Whispering Woods and create a stable and protected path through straight to Bright Moon’s doorstep.

He had been pleased with the idea back then, so she hoped she could talk this into being something useful for him.

Catra’s hips were starting to ache and her hands felt limp, but a subordinate wasn’t allowed to stand up until their superior started talking. Finally Hordak leaned back in her throne and made a gesture for her to stand up and the commander gratefully gave her spine a rest.

“Commander Catra,” he drawled in his raspy severe voice that grated on her nerves. It wasn’t as bad as Shadow Weaver’s demeaning and amused so-sweet-its-poisonous tone, but now he seemed especially displeased.

“Yes, Lord Hordak?” Catra addressed as respectfully as she could and only a second later kicked herself for it; it would only make her seem more guilty. Too late to fix her mistake, she stared her ‘Lord’ down with as much self-righteousness as she could muster.

He clearly caught onto her slip-up, but didn’t mention it. His metallic fingers clinked onto his armrest one by one, reminding Catra of a countdown. “Your presence had been required at the meeting of senior force captains, but your princess informed them you were occupied with important business.”

_My princess? Entrapta?_

“Yet I have not gotten any reports of any activity from your section.” He hissed, suspicion and anger growing more visible with every word. Meanwhile, Catra’s mind flew through all possible explanations; she had been so caught up in her anger and doubts, she’d forgotten to create a suitable cover story. And almost anything big she would have had to report before, so she needed a cover that couldn’t be confirmed and yet was still important enough to allow her to miss out on a meeting (which she had been planning to skip anyway).

After just a second too long of consideration, she wiped her face of any expression and stared Hordak right in his pupilless red eyes. “I was double-checking data that Entrapta collected. Ever since the siege on Bright Moon begun,” it wasn’t quite a siege yet, but they were getting there, “I had her monitoring the runestones to assess the effect we caused.”

It wasn’t a complete lie, except for the fact that Catra couldn’t understand squat about the data until Entrapta explained it, but Hordak didn’t know that. And it did make sense for her to be careful about completely trusting a princess fresh from the opposing side not to slip them incorrect information. Which… she hadn’t even considered to do until now. Entrapta had had plenty of options to cripple her and she hadn’t taken any one of them.

It was strangely warming, a feeling she quickly squashed down.

Hordak nodded once, then gave her a curt “carry on,” before the screen cut back to black.

With an explosive sigh of relief, Catra’s shoulders slumped and she eyed the mess on the floor again. Hordak had to have seen it so her motivation for cleaning it up went down drastically; after all Hordak’s opinion was the only one that mattered. For now, she kicked the rest of the stuffing into its corner and paused to admire the claw marks left on the tattered leather of the bags.

She had used every single one provided to her and though she knew she wasn’t getting new ones anytime soon, she couldn’t really care. She had used the training room all of two times outside now and during those, she’d stayed on the poles and balance beams and the rest of the gymnastics equipment. Speed and agility were her main weapons outside her claws and even though she knew hand-to-hand, she was too sleek and stick-thin (compared to someone like She-Ra) to properly use it in combat. Especially when her enemies could teleport or attack from a distance.

Brute strength and martial arts had always been Adora’s territory.

Still, even she needed to destroy something for the sole sake of destruction every once in a while and the punching bags were actually somewhat durable against her, sort of like a pseudo scratching post. So she rolled them back into the closet she got them from, trying to lose as little stuffing as possible, and locked them in. No one else used this training room so hopefully no one was going to find them anytime soon.

But for now, she needed more than just destruction, she needed answers. Answers to questions that had been bouncing around her skull like a catchy song ever since they arrived in Faleanes. As far as she could tell, only two people had the knowledge she was searching for. Hordak, who she was going to keep in the dark about her findings as long as possible.

And Shadow Weaver.

* * *

Catra hated the prison sector of the Fright Zone probably the most ever since the Black Garnet Chamber stopped being Shadow Weaver’s headquarters. The dungeon level, at least five stories underground and with even worse air than the above ground levels, was quickly becoming the worst of that without a doubt. Most of the cells were empty, as this wasn’t for holding regular prisoners, only those that weren’t considered a threat and nobody wanted to deal with. Or the ones that needed _convincing_ to rely information. Catra shuddered at the thought; that was one part of being the second in command she didn’t want to deal with.

Knowing Shadow Weaver was being held in a place as rank and disgusting as this should have felt like a victory – and it did, on some level – but it also made her skin crawl, especially when she imagined the old woman cackling in the stone cell and calling the darkness itself to be her servant. Catra liked the dark, she didn’t like magic that changed the darkness.

So when she came across the only occupied cell and was faced with a wispy, starved-to-the-bone figure with musty black hair, she was understandably caught off guard. Shadow Weaver didn’t look like Shadow Weaver anymore. She wasn’t the imposing figure in the dark with a blood red cloak and hair that slithered like snakes anymore. Her skin was unnaturally gray and her face was hollow and expressionless, so much different from what the mask led her to imagine.

Clad in prison-wear with long hair limply falling over her shoulders and back and hunched over where she sat, Catra almost didn’t want to believe it was the same person.

But then her head lifted and yellowish eyes like Catra had only seen once stared at her and there was no doubt left. Shadow Weaver had been beaten and broken, more than she had ever been able to do to her wards. Catra took only a small amount of pleasure from that.

“Catra,” the old woman purred in that disgustingly sleazy voice that made Catra’s fur stand on end. She wanted to get out the moment she recognized the voice, but she stood strong. Shadow Weaver was powerless now.

“Come to gloat? Do you feel powerful now with Hordak’s favor?” She sneered. “You’re not as strong as you make yourself think, child.”

“Strong enough to beat you.” Catra snapped back, lashing her tail. She had been wrong, Shadow Weaver might be locked in cell and stripped of all her magical power, but her skills in manipulation were just as dangerous. With just one sentence, she could rile up Catra like no one else.

“But I’m not here because of that.” Shadow Weaver raised an eyebrow almost curiously, but in her cracked and wrinkled face, the motion looked unnatural. Catra almost wanted to find her mask just so she wouldn’t have to look at her any longer.

Without the mask, it was different. The mask had haunted Catra’s nightmares for years, but it had been always the same, it had been predictable; it had only represented the fear and physical torment. The face behind it, the real Shadow Weaver, was the one who could get into her head and make her wish she could just die. Catra had defeated the mask when she struck Shadow Weaver down and crippled her, stealing away all of her power. She had yet to beat the real face.

“Oh? What could you possibly want from me?” Her infected eyes narrowed. “And what makes you think I would help a brat like you?”

“I went to Faleanes.” Catra said, effectively silencing the old woman. She wasn’t going to be intimidated, not this time. She clenched her fists angrily. “You know what I found.”

Shadow Weaver’s eyes slipped closed one at a time and for a moment she looked like she’d just died on the spot (Catra wouldn’t complain), then a low rasping chuckle reverberated from the cell. It grew into a hacking sort of laugh, a sound that held no amusement and grated on her ears like nails on a chalkboard.

It died off into a throaty cough quickly and Catra didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for the prisoner hacking her lungs up.

“Oh _yes_. I remember that little kingdom. And their little princess.” She made another sound that almost sounded like giggling. Catra snarled under her breath, but didn’t react. “The queen had been _so_ desperate to get her back, but we simply couldn’t allow a catch such as that to leave, could we?”

Then her voice took on a furious undertone. “Damn bastard was still a pain in the ass.”

_Don’t react, don’t react. She wants you to react. That’s her game._

They were people she didn’t know and thus couldn’t care for, but it was a piece of her history that changed her entire life. Had she stayed, never been stolen, she would have grown up to be a princess (there was very little doubt that she _was_ the princess of Faleanes). She would have had a family – the word tasted wrong on her tongue – and never would have encountered Shadow Weaver. A part of her longed for that, for the easier life of blissful ignorance of how hard it could be.

_But then I wouldn’t be strong._

The Horde had broken her bones and tore her skin so many times and crushed her confidence and identity, but they had never been able to take her spirit. She had endured it and had come out on top. She hated Shadow Weaver and Octavia and the drillmaster whose name she didn’t know and that was never going to change, but they had made her stronger. Made her into a survivor.

“Why all the secrecy?” Catra snarled down on the frail figure, idly wondering how hard it would be to snap her bones.

“Hmm, well, we couldn’t have you running back to that wretched place or trying to conspire against us.” Shadow Weaver drawled and Catra could read between the lines: _we considered you able enough to be a threat_. Satisfaction rose in her chest. “And we needed someone to hold Adora with us for all that time.”

_Adora,_ Catra thought balefully. Everything was always about Adora.

“And when she left, she would leave you all alone. Leaving you with nothing but a drive to take her down.”

_What?_

“After all, what is a better motivation than personal betrayal?”

_No, no no no no_

“But it is truly poetic, how the one person who hates the Horde the most is its strongest weapon.”

_I chose to do this. Shadow Weaver didn’t make me. She couldn’t have known._

Could she?

Catra slowly shook her head, feeling the world around her spin. Shadow Weaver’s voice droned on, but her heartbeat in her ears drowned it out. Denial screeched like a banshee in her mind, but doubt festered. Could Shadow Weaver have known what their choices would be? Had she known about the sword? Had she let herself be defeated, to make sure Catra would find out about Faleanes? After all, she was their best bet at controlling the Whispering Woods.

_NO!_

Breath ragged, her logical mind jumped into overdrive as the panic slowly cleared out. _No_ , she thought, _Shadow Weaver couldn’t have known_. She was just messing with Catra’s head, making her believe things that weren’t true. That was her whole thing. She would never let herself be defeated, Catra had won that through her own power. The certainty gave her confidence again.

“–but Lord Hordak was the one with the idea of converting a princess to our side. Believe me, I would never willingly deal with a brat like you. Your very existence had been a stain on my legacy.”

For some opaque reason, despite having heard similar words countless times before, it still stung. Still made her curl her tail around her waist and an almost guilty feeling to well up in her chest. As though she had done anything to be guilty for. (If Scorpia had been there, she would have said something about mother figures and the guilt of disappointing them.)

“You didn’t answer the question _prisoner_. Why all the secrecy?” Catra demanded, but a crackle of static – even worse than in her training room – cut Shadow Weaver off. The commander spun around to come face-to-face with another screen and keyboard.

_Shit. Cameras… with sound recording._

She was dead. If Lord Hordak – whose face was coming into view on the barely-used equipment – had heard her talk with Shadow Weaver, he knew that she’d been to Faleanes. That could mean many things for her, most of them not good, but when the image cleared and she had dropped into a bow, Hordak’s face was neutral. He seemed downright bored.

“Commander Catra, report to the throne room,” was all he said before the screen went off again.

Catra stared it in bewilderment. What could he want from her?

Slowly, she started walking to the elevating platform she had come down on. It rose with the racket of strained machinery and old rusty metal. After she brought it to standstill at the ground level, she marched confidently out of the prison sector and into the Fright Zone’s cool smog-infested air.

Instantly, her nose burned with the smell of smoke and her fingers felt too cold, and Catra picked up her pace in response. _It hadn’t been like this in the forest even after the snowstorm_ , she mused, then ruthlessly stomped the rogue thought into oblivion.

The suspended catwalks and hallways that led to Hordak’s throne room weren’t ones she was very familiar with, but she had been there enough times in the past weeks that she could easily find the way. The large thick double-doors creaked open before her without her prompting and she curled her tailtip anxiously.

She strode inside, ignoring the heavy slam with which the doors closed, and up the steps to the only person in the world who held any power over her. A column of light fell from the ceiling to light up Hordak’s cybernetic body with bright gleams and dark shadows and a half circle on the ground in from of him; Catra stopped at the very edge of the light.

“Commander Catra,” he started before she could bow. “You said that you had disregarded your duties to the management of your subordinates in favor of confirming the data a princess collected.”

_Damn_. So it was about her trip to Faleanes. At least he seemed to be neutral on the matter, but for now it would be safer to stick with her cover story. “Yes, Lord Hodark.”

He hummed and narrowed his bright red eyes. One claws-adorned hand rose to pat the weird baby-like demonic creature he kept around like a pet. It yipped and leaned into the touch, its yellow eyes closed. They both watched it for a moment before Hordak stood and walked with measured steps to the outline of the light.

“Catra,” he hissed and the commander stilled. He had _never_ said her name without a title attached; unbidden, her hackles rose in preparation of a fight. “You are not in the position you are in because you are special. You are simply available for it and have proven yourself to be an adequate commander.”

He towered over her, face cast in shadows when he angled his head down. “You are not in a position of power. Your will is my will and I will not tolerate your disrespect or anything less than utmost loyalty. Is that understood?”

Externally, Catra narrowed her eyes into a glare and inclined her head in an affirmative answer. Internally, she was snarling and shouting – _how dare he call her anything other than loyal? Adora hadn’t been loyal, but_ she _was!_ She swallowed her fury and held her superior’s gaze steadily, waiting for him to continue.

“I am aware you left the Fright Zone at noon today and returned shortly before supper. You went into the Whispering Woods, enemy territory, with only a force captain for backup and tried to make contact with a kingdom the Horde has no interest in.” He said and with every word, her heart dropped into her stomach. “You only left one person who had knowledge of your whereabouts; a person that is still not a trustworthy enough to be left unsupervised.”

His words were nearly growls and Catra desperately searched for a way to alleviate his anger. “Lord Hordak,” she said after he finished trying to fix her expression into something almost apologetic. “The mission was only a scouting one. I was checking out a reading Entrapta found. I only took Scorpia for backup to keep our presence a secret. I believed I could find the answer to destroy the Whispering Woods completely.”

Hordak gave the closest sound he could to a snort, then asked, “what have you found that could be of use?”

Catra’s ears lifted and her tail relaxed ever-so-slightly. “They think I’m their princess. They are refusing to join the Rebellion because of my loyalty to the Horde.”

_I’ve gotta make him think I don’t believe them,_ she thought, mind racing.  _Make it look like I’m just using them_ .

Hordak stayed silent for a long moment, then gave a barely perceptible nod. “Very well.”

He turned and walked back to his throne, satisfied. Behind his back, Catra heaved a quiet relieved sigh. “You will attend a meeting in two days and will explain in detail how the Horde can benefit from your findings.”

He sat down and she took a step into the circle of light, feeling he wasn’t finished yet.

“There is another matter that requires your attention.” He informed her and she had to wonder if he had settings instead of emotions because the contempt from before was completely gone.

“Which is?” She asked impatiently and ignored his lowered eyebrows. _You wanna know what real disrespect looks like?_ She thought with scowl. She was one of the most loyal people in the Horde, with full motivation to their cause: take down the Rebellion.

“Your… recruit,” Hordak chose the word as though he didn’t know what to say. Catra furrowed her brow; she hadn’t recruited anyone, no cadets or mechanics or… _oh, Entrapta_. At some point, between the constant sounds of tinkering and her pet robot and her and Scorpia’s overblown enthusiasm, she had stopped thinking of Entrapta as a princess who deserted the Rebellion. She had become one of _them_.

“Entrapta?” She asked, just to be sure.

“Yes,” Hordak’s metal face screwed up as much as it could in displeasure. Idly, Catra wondered what Entrapta would do if she ever realized his whole body was made of metal and wires and instantly had to resist a smile and guffaw.

“She is not a member of our operations, no matter her contributions. Today, for five hours, I have no record of her whereabouts, coincidentally during the time you and Force Captain Scorpia were gone.” He growled out and Catra twitched an ear to show her confusion. Entrapta was hard to keep track of, especially when she was scouring rooms for spare pieces or trying to observe the Horde’s ‘complex and interwoven hierarchy based on physical prowess and animal-reminiscent rituals’. Losing her for five hours was not surprising.

But then another thought occurred to her. How did he keep track of her all the time, if this was the first time he had lost her? For that matter, how had he known so much about her mission? It was almost like he’d heard the entire conversation she had had with Entrapta and Scorpia before they left. The same as when he approached them first about wanting to support their runestone experiment without Catra having time to fill him in.

She narrowed her eyes. Security cameras in every hallway and room came to mind as well as the small ones in screens mounted everywhere. If they could be watched from one location without anyone knowing they were on…

“Commander Catra, you are responsible for her actions in every second of the day.” Hordak continued, shaking her from her traitorous thoughts. “A rogue princess is a dangerous princess, especially when she has access to the Horde’s sensitive information.”

(Technically, she didn’t, but they both knew that no security would ever keep Entrapta out.)

“You are to watch her at all times and never leave her unsupervised.” Catra frowned at the order, sensing a thicker undertone to it.

“Why?” Entrapta was working for them and having someone hanging at her shoulder would only mean that someone going deaf early.

“Because the only reason that princess is not in the dungeon is because you claimed to have a use for her and thus take responsibility for her actions.” Hordak said coldly and Catra stilled. The thought of annoyingly cheery and quirky Entrapta in the dungeon felt _wrong_. Not just wrong, but uncomfortable in a way that she could only describe as disloyal if she bothered to name it.

“So either keep her on a better leash or I’ll be getting use out of her another way.” Hordak finished in a tone that told her the conversation was over and she could leave.

Gut churning restlessly, she gave a bow and made her way stiffly to the doors. They parted with the same creaking slowness and slammed with the same speed and rush of wind as before and as soon as Catra was out, she lashed her tail and raked her claws across the nearest wall angrily.

_Keep her one leash?!_ Her hand swiped in the air to avoid leaving marks in the metal (she could and she was proud of it, but Hordak wouldn’t be). She didn’t understand why she was getting so worked up over it, but the way he had said his order, like Entrapta was somehow less, that he could treat her like, like…

Like she’d been treated for years.

The uncomfortable feeling was getting stronger and she didn’t know what it was, but she wanted it gone. She wasn’t there to feel sorry for other people – no one had ever felt sorry for her – and Entrapta wasn’t somehow closer to her than any other operative (except she wasn’t an operative, not really, and her upbeat attitude was becoming a welcome white noise).

Her third strike slashed through the air quickly enough to make the wind whistle and with enough strength to nearly wretch her shoulder out of its socket. Stilling her frustration, she rubbed her arm and speed-walked away. She headed randomly at first, eyeing every camera she spotted with unease. Could Hordak be using them to spy on his empire to determine their loyalty to him? It was a daunting thought.

Without her intent, her feet carried her  to the Black Garnet Chamber and right upon entering she was nearly blown back by the sheer enthusiasm that Scorpia and Entrapta could muster up together. They were chattering like a pair of birds in spring, voices rising and dropping sporadically. It was entirely too loud and headache-inducing and she really didn’t have anything to be doing in there, but she still moved around discarded machinery to her designated space under the monitors.

It was calming to see both of them in front of her, unhurt and unbothered, and she was suddenly hit with the realization t hat she wasn’t as detached from them as she wanted to be . Scorpia was supposed to be temporary work partner who had no need to stick around anymore and despite her loud nature and lack of personal space, Catra had yet to  assign her to another squad. Entrapta was her responsibility,  but instead of setting up guards and security and generally keeping her as a prisoner should be kept, Catra allowed her free reign and privacy and full access to the Horde’s best technology.

She didn’t know when, but at one point, the two of them had wormed themselves into her heart and it would be a while before she managed to purge them from it.

Her musings were cut short when Scorpia noticed her and with a happy screech bounced over to her.  Catra braced herself to resist, but there was nothing she could do as the tall princess scooped her up in a hug that constricted her lungs and bruised her ribs. Hissing, she freed her arms from the constricting hold and used them to pull her whole body out. Her hair was more of a mane than usually from it and her fur felt mussed. She glared at Scorpia in retaliation, but was skillfully ignored.

“Ooooooooo, me and Entrapta were just talking about you,” she squealed, grabbed Catra’s hands despite her protests and dragged over to the third member of their team. Entrapta spared them a quick glance as they landed next to her sitting down.

Scorpia grinned widely. “ Now that you’re princess, or I guess now that you  _know_ you’re princess, since you always were one apparently, we wanna rename the team! I was thinking Super Princess Trio, but Entrapta’s not helping and I need you to help me convince her. ”

“It’s not accurate because that would insinuate that we are all the same matter of princess, but while you two are elemental princesses, I have no runestone and am a princess only in position.” Entrapta explained distractedly (even more so than normal).

“What? No! I’m not helping you with something this – we are not naming ourselves _princesses_ because I ain’t one.” Catra snapped, finally tearing her hands from Scorpia’s iron grip. _What is it today with people and grabbing my hands._

“Aw, c’mon, you so are!” Scorpia chirped, never losing her grin. “You heard what Ms Whiskers said: I would never forg-eagggh.”

Catra’s hand stayed firmly put over Scorpia’s mouth until she ran out of words and stared at the hand contemplatively. Worried she’d try something as childish as licking her hand, Catra quickly took it back.

“We are not naming ourselves princesses – or _anything_ – because princesses are on the other side of the war. Or did you forget who we’re fighting?” Catra asked, ears pulling back tightly.

Scorpia pouted, but there was something serious in her expression. “Y’know, just because the Rebellion is making princesses out to be something, doesn’t mean we have to be like that. We don’t need to follow stereotypes. We could make a new meaning to being a princess here in the Horde! ‘Be yourself, not someone else’.”

Catra rolled her eyes, but when Scorpia placed her claws over her hands again, she didn’t pull away, because for the first time, she fingers no longer felt cold. She stared into the princess’s ( _other_ princess’s, because she was one too, wasn’t she?) dark eyes that looked at her imploringly. “Just like you told me. Just like you told Entrapta. Remember? You made me accept being different from the status quo.”

She did, kind of. She remembered a moment of joined feeling, like she’d been looking at herself through a warped mirror. Only moments after finding out that Scorpia was a princess herself and she had felt so close to her for that moment. _You are an inspiration to others,_ Ms Whiskers’ insistence echoed in her mind. Was she?

Scorpia was still talking. “We could make that our squad motto! Get others to give all of their strengths into their training, even if they’re something different. Make the journey easier on others.”

“Why?” Catra asked sharply. “We are here and now and have what we do because we made it through the hard parts. The rest can do the same.”

Fully convinced she’d filled her quota for dealing with Scorpia, she stood up and made her way back to her seat. Entrapta behind them pulled herself up to stand on top of her robot’s – Emily’s? – body to reach something in the ceiling, then disappeared behind a column of cables. A second later, she overbalanced and shrieked, collapsing on the ground in a purple heap of hair. The robot whined and beeped at her, leaning down as much as it could as the princess sat up sullenly. Scorpia asked if she was alright from across the room.

Catra idly watched her try to reach the same spot again and again, wincing slightly when Entrapta fell in a particularly painful-looking fashion. Scorpia moved to help her, but even her added height didn’t make them tall enough.

_I can’t watch this,_ Catra thought when they, predictably, toppled over again. She stood up and studied the walls of the room thoughtfully. The decorative beams and lights would be more than suitable as footholds. Giving a great annoyed sigh as another crash sounded out behind her (along with Entrapta’s steady rant about physics and gravity), she crouched down and leaped up the wall. Her claws found holds by instinct and in two bounds, she grabbed the nearest suspended beam and pulled herself into the rafters.

The maze of cables and support beams was easy to navigate for a habitual climber. Catra crossed the room to look down on her team from above. She smirked at Scorpia’s surprised ‘oh’ as they picked themselves off of the floor.

Entrapta gasped in a delighted way and raised herself as high as she could without overbalancing and threw a tool at Catra. The commander jerked back, but managed to catch the object just in time. It looked like a screw driver that had taken a bath in lava, bent and disproportional and she couldn’t tell if it was meant to look that way or was just that beat up.

As soon as she looked back at her, the mechanic launched into a new monologue, mouth running a mile a minute and using words that meant nothing to Catra. _You didn’t feel like watching them fail, you could have left,_ she reprimanded herself. When had the two princesses grown on her so much leaving them to try and fail sat uncomfortably with her?

( _It’s like I was telling ya:_ _Catra is the best friend ever._ )

Before she could interrupt Entrapta to ask for a simpler version of her instructions, a beep stole her attention. At first she thought it was just the robot hanging around, but all of the monitors in the wall lit up simultaneously. She stared at Hordak’s face on the screen for the third time that day along with Scorpia and Entrapta (who had descended to the ground again and looked uncertain).

Dictated by habit, Catra flattened herself on the beam, hoping the darkness would hide her from Hordak’s gaze. There was no outright reason for her avoidance, other than her shortening patience, but her instincts told her he wanted something she wasn’t supposed to know. _Him hiding Faleanes is making me paranoid,_ she thought, but didn’t move to reveal herself.

_What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him, right?_

(Oh, how wrong that was in reality.)

“Force Captain Scorpia,” he intoned. Catra narrowed her eyes contemplatively; was this him cross-checking her story? “Is Commander Catra with you?”

Scorpia hesitated and Catra prayed that she was in her field of vision as she frantically mimed cutting her throat. The princess’s eyes flicked to her for a second and she gave a barely perceptible nod. She gave a hasty bow before she spoke. “Uh, no. I haven’t seen her in a while. You said she was doing private stuff today.”

Hordak’s eyes and he leaned forward in his throne, nearly baring his red teeth angrily. “Force Captain, your loyalty is to me and the Horde’s mission, _not_ your commander. I already knew that Commander Catra discovered Faleanes and learned of her history, but if you lie to me again, I will have you removed from your position.”

Scorpia cringed back, worrying her claws in front of her, while Catra silently snarled down at the screen. Entrapta gazed at them all uncertainly, her enthusiasm subdued, then drew back to the side of the room, busying herself with a screen of her own.

“Is that understood?” Hordak hissed and Scorpia quickly nodded.

The Lord leaned back, satisfied, his momentary anger forgotten. Catra drew her claws across the metal she perched on, fury making her want to give Hordak a piece of her mind. _Scorpia is my force captain, so she follows my lead._ _She doesn’t get a choice._

“Now, what I wanted to discuss with you is your opinion on Catra.” He said, calm as could be, and the commander in question nearly fell out of the rafters. Her?

Scorpia seemed to be in a similar dilemma as she spluttered and stammered. “Catra? Well, I guess, uh, she’s a good fighter, really good, I mean keeping up with She-Ra, that takes guts, and she’s a good leader, I think? I mean, all of us are still alive after going toe to toe with an army of princesses, so that’s something. She’s a good planned; is she a good planner? I never can tell how much is planned and how much she just, well, wings it.”

Privately, Catra soaked up the praise.

“I am well aware of her achievements and abilities.” Hordak cut in, face harsh. “I am asking about her character. Is she dedicated to our cause? Who is she loyal to?”

Bastard.

Claws dug into steel with a thin whine, making Scorpia look to Catra nervously. She just jerked her head to the screen, content to keep her presence secret. The princess hesitated and Hordak glared at her. “Catra is definitely dedicated to taking down the Princess Alliance, Lord Hordak. That’s for sure.”

He nodded, then “and what of her loyalties?”

The princess paused again, thinking it over and Catra took a moment to consider it herself. Where did her loyalties lie? Til now, it had been the Horde and Hordak one hundred percent, but Shadow Weaver’s words left her with uncertainty. Had they, through her upbringing, made her so desperate (and afraid of change) that she pledged herself to their cause even though she didn’t care about it? What did she owe them? They had done nothing for her her entire life; she made herself strong and built her walls and boundaries and got where she was.

So why _did_ she stay? She couldn’t say she liked the Horde, she downright hated it, the same as she had hated it for as long as she could remember. Before, Adora had made her stay, because before, loyalty was something she was proud to have. She would have been with Adora through thick and thin, she was wiling to endure everything that happened to her to stay by Adora’s side. And what did she do?

She left, because she couldn’t stand what the Horde was doing to the world, to people neither of them knew. She had turned a blind eye to Shadow Weaver’s torment for years, never really helping Catra, but the moment someone else was in trouble, she was all about helping and fighting the Horde. And Catra couldn’t help feeling like she’d been thrown away for something better, less broken.

And so, she threw herself into bringing everything Adora stood for to the ground.

And not just that; everybody else that wiped their hands off her too like she wasn’t anyone. She was going to prove to every single one of them that she wasn’t a thing they could discard. She wasn’t someone they could push around.

_I have nothing to lose and everything to prove._

Her vengeful thoughts were cut short when she realized Hordak was talking again. She must have missed Scorpia’s answer, if there had been one.

“I appointed her my commander because she was useful. But she had not been authorized to take matters into her own hands and disable Shadow Weaver’s magic. I have tolerated it once, I will not accept outbursts like that again. Any sign of disloyalty and she will be removed from her position and treated as a traitor.” He snarled, gripping his armrests with enough strength for the furniture to bend.

Lord Hordak stood, regaining his emotionless facade and addressing Scorpia formally. “Force Captain Scorpia, aside from your missions, you are to observe Commander Catra and report to me if she strays from the Horde’s path or shows traitorous tendencies.”

Abruptly, the screen cut to black, leaving Scorpia only lit by the Black Garnet’s red glow. She bit her lip and looked up to lock eyes with Catra’s. Catra saw the honest worry in her gaze and looked away, tail lashing. She couldn’t blame Scorpia for what had happened, as much as she wanted to have someone to blame.

A scuffle above her drew her attention to a small moving shape among the cables. It had many various limbs and overall seemed pretty oval. Catra jumped to its rafter and plucked the thing up before it could run off, making it yip. Holding it by what she thought was its scruff, she held it away from the beams as it struggled in her grip. Two bony limbs she thought might be wings poked her hand and its legs and arms kicked in the empty air; a thin line with a hooked end – tail – wrapped around her arm.

It mewled its protests as she eased herself down from the rafters, not taking her eyes off of the creature as she brought it into light. Yellow eyes narrowed in too-human contempt stared at her from a childish round face.

Catra stared as she held Hordak’s pet in her hand, trying to puzzle out how it had gotten there. That thing never left Hordak’s side; it would be trampled if it did (unless those wings were for something). From behind her, she heard Scorpia voice the same confusion then hurry to explain the creature to a bewildered Entrapta.

Predictably, the princess wanted to study it, but Catra kept it out of her reach. “No, Entrapta, _no_. This thing’s creepy and I would love for you to take it apart, but Hordak wants it as it is.”

Entrapta pouted, making the biggest puppy eyes Catra had ever seen. She even got her irises to twinkle. Still, the commander only shook her head. The princess deflated and trudged away. In her place came Scorpia, looking closely at the little baby-like being. “You’re not kidding. This thing is seriously creepy.”

She poked it on the cheek and shivered as its head only bobbed it place. “How do you think the little guy got here?”

“I don’t know,” Catra admitted, but a train of thought was starting to make sense.

Hordak _was_ spying on his soldiers, somehow. That much she knew. Question was if the cameras at every corner were enough for that; the security ones had no sound she was pretty sure. She considered the wriggling mass in her hand. It was small and barely noticeable and clearly knew how to get across the Fright Zone without being spotted, since no one ever mentioned having seen the creature away from Hordak. It felt like a perfect spy.

S he had never heard it talk, which didn’t mean it couldn’t, but she thought it was unlikely since it always acted like an animal (except those strange pauses when it froze and just watched her). And even if couldn’t, the Horde had the necessary technology to add a camera or microphone somewhere on it without it being visible.

Which could mean that Hordak was watching her that very moment.

Narrowing her eyes, Catra lifted a hand to its chest, pressing her fingertips to the shirt to find any technology below. Small sharp teeth snapped at her hand as soon as she got close and tiny hands batted at hers. She sneered at it, but dropped her examination; she couldn’t risk hurting it and its bones looked extremely fragile.

_Maybe I should just let Entrapta have a go at it._

She didn’t; that would get Hordak even angrier, especially if he was as unhappy with Entrapta as he seemed. She relaxed her fingers and let the blue baby drop to the floor non-too-gently. It landed on all fours, turned its head up to glower at her and bolted away in a lizard crawl.

And through Entrapta’s disappointed groan and Scorpia’s unsure expression, all Catra could think was that Hordak was just like Shadow Weaver.

Always looking over her shoulder, always keeping a leash on her, knowing her every move and berating her the moment she stepped even the slightest bit out of line. She wasn’t a valuable soldier to Hordak, he didn’t make her his second-in-command because she had the strength and cunning, but because he could use her grudge against Adora.

Her firsts clenched and shook at her sides.

(And hadn’t she said that same thing to Adora? The Horde only used people. In her desperate search for approval she had become as blind as Adora.)

She had beaten Shadow Weaver only to get another one, one that was harder to beat. She owed them nothing and yet she gave the Horde her all. She had been hurt, so many times, and she had finally let one of them break her. Adora leaving… hadn’t made her stronger, had it? It was hard to think, but it was the truth, she was realizing. It hadn’t made her stronger, it had taken something from her, a will to _live_ , not just survive.

_Nothing left to lose._

Scorpia moved closer to her, looking concerned. But, Catra was going to be alright, because even though Adora left, she wasn’t alone, not anymore. Entrapta watched them from afar, but bounded over when Scorpia beckoned her. The tallest princess scooped both of them in a hug, lifting their feet off of the ground and for once, Catra didn’t fight her.

Scorpia grinned brightly enough to light up the room and squealed a little. Catra herself winced at the high pitch, but she was too busy replaying all the times Scorpia had stuck with her, supported her when she did something stupid.

When her feet touched the ground again, she ignored Scorpia’s stammered “sorry about that, you just really looked like you needed a hug,” and walked to the monitors on the wall. Taking a thick white tape from the desk, she found the camera on them one by one and plastered multiple layers of tape over it.

Catra looked back at her crew, who were watching her curiously and stood with her arms crossed.

“Hordak doesn’t trust us.” She said simply, throwing a glower back at the screens. The two princesses looked confused. “He’s treating us like we’re kids still. Just like Shadow Weaver did. I mean spying and telling teammates to keep each other on a leash?!”

She ignored Entrapta’s quiet “biologically we are still children.”

“What are you getting at?” Scorpia asked.

“I’m sick of this.” Catra snarled. “The Horde is crossing the Whispering Woods only thanks to us and he has the gal to act like we’re gonna stab him in the back!” _Right now, I would like to._

“Uh, yeah, but isn’t he like that to everyone?” Scorpia asked tentatively.

“Doesn’t mean we have to take it.” Catra snapped back.

Then a small noise alerted them to Entrapta’s presence. The princess was slumped over the backrest of a chair, looking melancholic like Catra had never seen her. “Guys, I wanna go home.”

Catra’s hackles rose and Scorpia made a sound of confusion.

“Back to Dryl.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Catra's pov is surprisingly hard to write. I love her as a character and I think I captured how she thought well enough, but at the end it felt a little forced. Sorry if it isn't as good as other chapters.


	5. Entrapta

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Entrapta hadn't thought she was going to find much when she went into the Whispering Woods to look for inspiration. What she found instead was that her former friends still cared about her and that she might be more homesick than she realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She was actually really fun to write! I finding out that Catra is an amazing character to explore from another character's pov. And Entrapta just flowed from my fingers so easily. This chapter's shorter because we're nearing the end and there's less information I need to cram into it,  
> Still, I hope you enjoy!

Entrapta was familiar with paradoxes.

She didn’t like them, because they put experiments on hold and sometimes set her back months, but she knew them. They were a fun challenge for times of low creativity, when her curiosity was running wild and none of her ongoing experiments needed her attention. Paradoxes in math and time, simulating an entire different timeline at a time when she was dragging herself through a really slow month.

Theoretical paradoxes were fun and intriguing, paradoxes in practice less so, but still a welcome change of pace from time to time. Paradoxes outside of her experiments on the other hand, could be terrifying and confusing and generally sent her running for the safety and certainty of her lab and mathematics.

But, right now, she couldn’t even find it in her to move the smallest muscle ( _the stapedius muscle in a person’s inner ear_ ). What was before her wasn’t possible, it shouldn’t exist, it threw a wrench into her studies and information about the Princess Alliance.

Before her stood a plant – a type of bush she couldn’t identify – in a wide overgrown stone pot and reaching its small leafy branches high above her head. It was obviously tended to often and the plant flourished with a thick coat of green leaves and a handful of colorful flowers. At the base of the pot, nearly hidden in the overgrowing branches, was a pile of various offerings. Small sealed letters and artistic cards and flowers fashioned into any and all shapes and even a few hand-carved wooden figurines.

The bush had also been meticulously cropped to resemble her.

The statue was on both feet proudly, hands on her hips and her upturned face adorned with a wide smile. Her hair flowed from her signature ponytails down in many strands to weave around the base and cover the cracked and weathered stone.

It was beautiful not from a logical standpoint, but aesthetic. As much as Entrapta didn’t understand the beauty in fashion and tight dresses that left much to be desired in the thermoregulation department and jewelry of woven and swirling silver and small colorful gems, even she had to pause to admire the detail that had gone into creating a statue in her honor.

_Her honor!_

The intricate bronze plaque some ways in front of the statue boldly proclaimed that it was “dedicated to Princess Entrapta of Dryl, a brave and ingenious member of the Princess Alliance, whose loss shall be the last.” Painstakingly carved decorative swirls and leaves framed the text, somehow beautiful in a sorrowful way.

Entrapta took a hesitant step forward, reaching out to brush her finger over on of the letters. Part of experimentation was observation and she knew she needed more than one scense’s confirmation to truly believe it. But her gloved hand met solid resistance and the smooth bumps on the surface. It was there, it was truly real.

But… that didn’t fit. Not with the facts that Entrapta had. The Princess Alliance had left her in the Fright Zone by their own choice, they hadn’t _lost_ her, not in the way she knew the plaque was referring to. If there had been any more rescue attempts, she would have know; Catra and Scorpia or Emily would have told her.

But then, _why would Perfuma make this?_

Looking closer at the offerings, she noted a card in the shape of a snowflake and a wreath adorned with seashells. More than a dozen letters were sealed with the symbol of Bright Moon.

_The entire Rebellion did this?_

Why would they do that? There was no need for a memorial, she was still alive and had waited for them to return for two days, then Catra found her and made her see that two days was too long. They could have been planning a second raid to find her, but… why didn’t they take her with during the first?

It was all thoughts she had had many times since she joined the Horde, but now they were returning with a vengeance. Before, it had made sense that the Rebellion had left her behind because she outgrew her usefulness to them. Now she didn’t know what to think.

_Did… do the other princesses want me gone so much that they’d fake my death?_

It didn’t seem right, but she was drawing a blank on any other ways around this paradox (except that she might have stumbled into another timeline). She needed to review her facts again. Entrapta reached into her pocket and brought up her trusty recorder.

“The Princess Alliance, me included, stormed the Fright Zone to rescue Princess Glimmer and Bow.” That was something to build off of.

“While following a hasty plan, Emily and I were separated from the other princesses in an incinerator chamber.” She still remembered their horrified faces and mournful calls.

“Emily shielded me from the oxidation reaction.” She said with a smile; Emily was the sweetest friend.

“And, after the doors didn’t open, I opened a present vent and escaped.” And that was were facts became uncertain.

“I hid in the vents to wait for a rescue, but none came.” Until Catra opened a grate and dragged her out.

“Catra told me they had left without me and I found no evidence to suggest otherwise.” She murmured and turned away from the statue, scanning the surrounding vegetation. She was somewhere in Plumeria, she knew, but by the lack of inhabitants, she supposed she was close to the border.

“The Princess Alliance left me behind.”

Her gaze roved over the wild and untamed forest opposite the statue, so free and powerful. And dying. She could see where past frostbite had destroyed the bark and the soft wood underneath. Damp dead leaves slurped under her feet when she walked. Originally, she had left the Fright Zone to think and when she thought, sometimes a change in scenery wasn’t unwelcome. She had decided to inspect the expansion into the Whispering Woods and the woods themselves to see the effects of her experiment up close. Somehow, she had wondered through the forest and ended up in Plumeria (if the forest hadn’t been dying, she would have almost believed that it had led her there).

Her eyes sought out the plaque again, a sudden thought stopping everything else in its tracks.

_Whose loss shall be the last._

What if, what if they weren’t trying to cover anything up, but actually thought she was… dead. She hadn’t considered that yet, because she had been going off of the assumption that everyone knew she had made it out of that incinerator chamber. She thought the Princess Alliance knew too, after all, they couldn’t have found a body when they searched.

She brought her recorder closer to her mouth. “I may have made a terrible mistake.”

* * *

Getting back to the Fright Zone and her lab wasn’t hard, especially when no soldier ever looked up as she moved from one building’s vents to another. When she didn’t have vents, she skirted the margins of the military camps. While she never took an active interest in the war and did consider herself a full member of the Horde with freedom to go where she wanted, even she knew that foot soldiers that had to hold the front line were unlikely to have heard she was on their side and thus would treat her as an enemy princess.

She got back before Catra and Scorpia, which left her with a lot of conflicting theories and thoughts and no one to confirm or deny them. She assumed neither of them knew what the Rebellion thought had happened, but she needed to confirm it. They had found her by accident two days after the raid and they had seemed as surprised as she had been so they hadn’t been actively looking for her.

So she threw herself into upgrading Emily’s somewhat faulty programming while she waited and by the time Scorpia sauntered in and started chatting with her, she had put her worries mostly to rest (she was still too distracted to ask about what they found until Scorpia brought it up). Besides, she wanted Catra present too when she finally asked.

Before she could, though, Hordak interrupted them and she drew herself away to tinker with her robot friend’s coding. She wasn’t ashamed to admit that the Lord set her teeth on edge ( _what a strange saying_ ). He seemed cold and distant and dangerous, all words she had been called before, but with Hordak it seemed intentional. He supplied her with parts and a lab, but she worried that he was prone to change that she couldn’t predict.

She didn’t like when something didn’t follow the same pattern every time. Chemistry and physics and math did, so she surrounded herself with that.

She tuned out the following debate; the politics of her team’s situation was something she didn’t care about and sometimes felt more than a little nauseated from. The secrecy, the lies and short tempers, more powerful people breathing down their necks. In moments like those, she missed Dryl with a passion, where her advisors and robots took care of outside problems and kept her safe from possible assassinations (there had been one that she was aware of). Where she could trust everyone she employed and didn’t have to remember to keep dozens of secrets hidden.

Dryl, where everyone probably thought she was dead.

She gave a little whine, eyes feeling moist and looked up from the chair she was sitting on. Catra and Scorpia had stopped talking to look down at her. “Guys, I wanna go home. Back to Dryl.”

Scorpia inhaled loudly and looked to Catra, who had taken to glaring down at the floor. Her tail lashed behind her and she mumbled something under her breath. Entrapta cocked her head to the side.

“Dryl’s on the other side of Bright Moon.” Scorpia said with a helpless shrug. “There’s no way to get there.”

“No entirely,” Entrapta countered. “There’s not 180 degrees between the Fright Zone and Dryl, it’d be much closer to 150 or less if you looked at a map. It’s similar to Plumeria, just mirrored, and I got to Plumeria with no problem.”

Catra brought her heterochromatic eyes ( _and that’s beautiful anomaly_ ) sharply to Entrapta, brows furrowing. “You went to Plumeria today?”

The princess nodded nonchalantly. “Yes, I was recording the effects of altering the flow of power in the runestones on the ecosystems.”

It wasn’t totally wrong, but she doubted they wanted to hear about her lack of inspiration lately. And the statue felt personal, something she needed to understand herself before she told anyone else about it.

Catra looked incredulous as she asked, “you got there without being spotted?”

“Yeah.” Entrapta shrugged; it hadn’t been that hard. “I can get to Dryl. I could get my other inventions – oh I just know they would love to meet Emily – and it’d be easier to read the First Ones’ writing there!”

The idea that she might see her kingdom again with all its hidden deadly traps and maze-like corridors brought a wide smile to her face. It was only a place with buildings, but it was her _home_ , no matter where she was.

“You can’t.” Catra said simply, once again staring holes into the tiles. Next to her, Scorpia winced, her fascinating tail curling up ( _how can her body be only partially covered by an exoskeleton?_ ).

Entrapta straightened, frowning. “Why?”

Worry churned in her gut. Was Catra lying to her? Did she know what the other princesses assumed and was purposefully trying to keep Entrapta away from them? It was possible – many things were in this situation – but the engineer doubted it. Catra was manipulative, definitely, and willing to do anything to win, but Entrapta had seen her hidden smiles and her presence in the lab when she didn’t need to be; she had recorded it all in her analysis of the Horde’s social structure and psychology.

Catra wasn’t allowed outright displays of affection, no one except Scorpia seemed to be (maybe it was a princess-excluding rule?), but she acted like she cared in the small details, something Entrapta had observed many times in groups of close friends. _Are we friends?_

“I thought I was your equal.” She accused, making Scorpia flinch guiltily. She tried to stammer out an explanation, but Entrapta’s gaze was on Catra, who had yet to react. “What am I to you?”

Finally, the commander met her eyes. “To me? A valuable asset.”

“Then why can’t I go to Dryl? I would be more effective with my equipment.” Entrapta challenged. She stood up from the chair, trying to look as big as she could (that seemed to be the usual way to intimidate in the Horde) even though she was still a couple inches shorter than Catra.

“Because Hordak is the one running this show and he doesn’t want you to leave.” Catra answered without hesitation, still staring at the shorter princess. She looked like she was mulling something over. _Beginnings of a plan?_

“I’m a prisoner?” Entrapta asked, trepidation making her believe her stomach dropped lower despite its fixed position.

Scorpia hurried to assure her that she wasn’t, but Catra tore her eyes away and snapped, “according to Hordak, yeah.”

She thought her heart skipped a beat despite the impossibility of the fact. “And according to you?”

Before Catra could say anything, Scorpia threw an arm over her shoulders. “You’re one of us! Right Cat?”

“Don’t call me that.” The feline snapped, hesitated, then nodded once. “Yeah, you’re one of us.”

The coil of stress in her stomach loosened ever so slightly. She wasn’t on her own. Emily sensed her unease and whined, moving over to rub against Entrapta’s legs. She freed an arm from Scorpia’s hold and petted the robot. _Yeah, I’ll never be alone while I have you._

“So help me get to Dryl.” She pleaded and the mood plummeted as quickly as Scorpia had lightened it.

“Can’t. You leave the Fright Zone and you’ll be an enemy again.” Catra said. “Hordak’s orders.”

“Jerk,” Entrapta sniffed, drawing a surprised guffaw of laughter from Scorpia.

“You know, I was literally just ordered to keep you from even considering disobeying him.” The tall princess grumbled as she looked back at Catra. When Entrapta locked gaze with the commander, she recognized the gleam of an idea, the same as she’d had just before they got the Black Garnet.

“What makes you say that?” Catra asked in a voice practically dripping with sarcastic innocence. Scorpia shook her head with an indulging sigh. “You’re got that look on your face. What crazy thing are you planning now?”

“My ideas aren’t crazy–”

“Speak for yourself.”

“–and I was just thinking.” Catra snapped and when it became obvious she wasn’t going to add anything, both Scorpia and Entrapta motioned for her to continue. She gave an explosive sigh as though it was a great effort and sacrifice to do so.

“What do we owe them?” She asked, biting her lip almost nervously, except Entrapta was certain she didn’t get nervous.

“Them?”

“Hordak, the Horde, everyone here.”

Scorpia fidgeted while Entrapta hummed. She herself didn’t owe anyone anything, that much she knew, and she had been doing experiments there because their tech was years ahead of her own. Plus their resources were better, with more variety and in better conditions.

“I mean, I kinda have my entire family here,” Scorpia said hesitantly and Entrapta startled. There were more people like her? She supposed that made sense, but she wished she could see them, to see if they had the same amount of exoskeleton or if it was unique to every individual.

Catra threw her a curious look. “You know, I keep forgetting about that since I never saw any of them.”

“Yeah, I don’t see them often either, they like to avoid any of the fighting and kinda dislike that I decided to join the army. Our family didn’t have to.” Scorpia said, rubbing the back of her neck. She eyes were downcast and the muscles around them making her look sad.

“They don’t even visit their own runestone?” Catra asked, surprised. “This was your kingdom and they don’t even get a say in how it’s run?”

“Not really. I mean, they gave up all power when they invited the Horde in.” Scorpia gave a forced shrug. “It’s no big deal.”

Entrapta tilted her head. “But you wish they hadn’t?”

The taller princess hesitated, then slumped her shoulders and nodded. Catra paced before both of them, giving the monitors on the wall a glare every few seconds.

“Then let’s take it back.” She declared, facing them again.

“From Hordak?!” Scorpai shrieked.

“From the Horde.” Catra corrected fiercely. “This is your kingdom, not Hordak’s and you deserve to be the one in charge. But that won’t happen if we keep conforming to their expectations and following orders like good little soldiers and fighting their battles.”

Entrapta gaped at them, distractedly turning on her recorder to capture this moment for later. Scorpia’s eyes were wide and sparkling and she was holding her claws in front of her like she might start clapping.

“Are you saying you want to betray the Horde?” She whispered.

“If someone betrays you first, you’re just retaliating.” Catra grinned, showing off sharp teeth. “What do you say? We’ll drop princess homesickness off at Dryl and you and me will show Hordak why he shouldn’t underestimate us.”

In a completely un-Catra-like fashion, she stuck her hand out between them like a team cheer, never losing her Cheshire expression. Squealing excitedly and looking downright terrified at the same time, Scorpia slapped her claw on top of it and both of them turned to Entrapta confidently.

The princess stared back. Catra, the most driven person she had ever met (maybe aside from herself), was willing to betray the Horde and everything she had stood for to help her escape. Scorpia, whose family was living well and safe in the Fright Zone, was planning to throw it all away to support them. They had their own reasons of course, but they had stopped to think about her and were offering to escort her home.

_Home_.

“Emily gets to come too?” She asked, placing a strand of hair over the robot’s head. Scorpia ‘aww’ed at the gesture and Catra rolled her eyes, but both nodded.

Entrapta’s heart sped up with an influx of adrenaline and anticipation and she hit both of her hands on their own, putting enough strength into it to make the other two wince. With only a little prompting, Emily sat down and reached one of her flat legs to poke Catra’s palm from below. The commander (ex-commander?) snorted, but didn’t draw back.

A second later, all of them – even Emily, somehow – were wrapped in red-platted arms and squeezed. “Super Princess Trio is going solo! We’ll be unstoppable!”

“Want a megaphone? I don’t think Hordak heard you well enough.” Catra drawled.

“Sorry, I’m just so excited. And terrified. We’re going against Hordak, the whole Horde, are we nuts?! We won’t last!” Scorpia gasped, then descended into wordless sounds as Catra’s hand planted itself across her mouth.

“You scared?” She challenged and privately, Entrapta admitted that she herself was a little.

“Nuhu.” Scorpia tried to say around the hand on her face. Catra’s ears drew back in embarrassment and she took her hand back, wiping it on her uniform. “No, just being realistic.”

Catra shrugged. “The Horde isn’t as dangerous as they pretend to be, _we_ were their best. If we’re smart, we’ll be fine. Now get whatever you want to bring with you, because we’re not coming back.”

That spurred Entrapta back into action, picking up tools and parts and cables that would be hard to get on her own in Dryl. Taking her prisoner or not, she was going to miss all of the technology that the Horde had. But she wanted to go home more. She cleared out all of her runestone-related equipment that hadn’t been destroyed by the feedback from her experiment and what she couldn’t pack she dismantled (even she knew what she had done hadn’t been right).

Emily wandered over and Entrapta told her to sit still while she packed her things into the robot’s empty compartments. She managed to fit everything in without damaging it and left the most delicate work in her own pockets.

Lastly, she approached the First Ones’ crystal and gently, lovingly pried it from its place in her machine. Just looking at it made her want to bounce around with excitement. _So perfectly preserved! And all mine!_ She took hastily-made cushions of cotton she found and covered the data crystal, then carefully placed it in between all of her tools, securing it in place to keep it from getting damaged.

By the time she was done, Emily had nearly doubled it weight and her own clothes sagged with all the technology she had packed. Scorpia came back  with only a small sack thrown over her shoulders; the sounds from inside when she moved told Entrapta it was mostly wooden with a few metal  pieces. _Mementos of her life til now and family,_ Entrapta thought.

Catra had nothing with her when they rejoined her by the Black Garnet,  o nly a small piece of paper, neatly folded, sticking out  from under her belt.  She was watching the monitors that still had their cameras covered with a scowl and was muttering to herself.  Curiosity taking hold of her, Entrapta reached forward and plucked the paper from Catra.

Unfolding it, she found herself staring  at a messy drawing. It wasn’t a masterpiece, it actually looked pretty bad with lines not connecting or crisscrossing  in a child-like  scrawl . It had two ovals fashioned to look like heads, with missing noses, exaggerated glare s and malicious smiles. One was accented with Catra’s signatures: feline ears, sharp canines, wild hair and her headpiece. The other…

The other looked like Adora.

“Hey!” The paper was ripped from her hands and Entrapta looked up to find Catra glaring at her darkly. Entrapta gave her the best guilty-but-still-curious look and Catra sighed, folding the paper and putting it away with gentle motions. “Don’t just take something like that.”

Scorpia came over to bump her shoulder. “C’mon, don’t be embarrassed! We all have something to hold close to our hearts.”

She slung her sack down, untied it and took a wooden statue out of it.  It displayed a big scorpion on a thin pedestal.  It was arched in an attack, pincers open and raised up and tail curling up over it with the stinger long and sharp. The detail was fascinating, down to the eyes and teeth and individual spikes on its plating.

“This is a family heirloom,” Scorpia explained, grinning. “It’s a sign of the current king or queen. Whoever runs our kingdom has this somewhere in their private room.”

S he held it up higher, turning her claw so that the other two would be able to see the underside  of the pedestal. As light fell on it, Entrapta noticed that there was something carved into the already thin wood. It was a circle less than a millimeter deep, with a stylized scorpion curled around its tail standing out from it. The design didn’t show its legs or face and the exoskeleton  plating  was only hinted at.

“See, that’s our family crest.” Scorpia said proudly and Entrapta found herself itching to touch the statue. It had clearly seen plenty of wear and tear and yet the wood of the pedestal didn’t snap, even though it looked like it should.

“That’s nice,” Catra drawled from behind them, “but it’s not gonna get us out of here.”

S corpia pouted and put the heirloom away. Her sullen mood didn’t last and she soon  smiled again. “Technically, you’re the second-in-command of this place. You don’t  _need_ permission.”

“I do when I’m taking Entrapta outside directly against Hordak’s orders.” Catra countered and Entrapta had to roll her eyes. The two were nice and she liked them, but they really needed to learn to listen.

“We’ll just use the vents like I did!” She bounded over to the keyboard and brought up a vent map of the Fright Zone and its expansion. She spotted Catra’s surprised look and grinned to herself. _Puh-lease, I can hack a whole lot more than this._

“All of the Fright Zone is connected through its air conditioning so–”

“And how do you plan to cram these two into a vent?” Catra asked, pointing at Scorpia and Emily, who in turn looked offended. Entrapta frowned, looking the tallest princess up and down. Emily could probably walk to a meeting point without anyone batting an eye and Scorpia should technically too. Neither of them would fit in the vents.

Catra noticed her hesitation and continued. “We need to leave together and quickly. Hordak doesn’t trust us so he’ll be keeping eyes on us, if Scorpia and I try to leave while he can’t find you, we’ll be in trouble. And a robot wandering around outside of shifts would be dismantled and reprogrammed.”

Emily beeped fearfully behind them, crouching down. Entrapta felt her heart go out to the poor machine; she just wasn’t appreciated in the Horde.

“Alright, then stop telling us what we can’t do and give us the plan.” Scorpia rolled her eyes and nudged Catra, earning herself a seething glare. “You only ever talk this much if you already have an idea.”

The commander huffed. “We’ll go down to the skiffs, put the pedal to the metal and don’t stop ‘til we reach Dryl.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” Entrapta asked, dragging a hand through her ponytail.

“We’re trying to desert the Horde, of course it’s dangerous.” Catra said. “But so long as they don’t expect anything until the last second, we’ll be good.”

“Then let’s get out of here!”

“Do you _want_ Hordak to come knocking down our door?”

Entrapta smiled a wavering smile and patted Emily.

* * *

Getting down to the hanger was simple, but nerve-wracking. The strode down hallway after hallway, in full view of everyone and every camera, Catra at the front, Scorpia at her shoulder and Entrapta and Emily bringing up the rear. Catra walked confidently and briskly, head held high and emitting an aura of complete authority. Soldiers and cadets moved out of her way and gave hasty salutes, then stared after them until they turned the corner.

No one challenged them and no one questioned where they were going. Everything was going smoothly until they tried to get a skiff.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you bring a robot this heavy on the skiff.” The keeper told them sternly.

Catra glared him down, making the man shift on his feet uncomfortably. “This is an urgent matter and we don’t have time to discuss it, so get us a skiff.”

Entrapta, Emily and Scorpia watched them like an experiment about to combust from a safety zone of three meters away.

“The robot can keep up with the skiff.” He argued. “And captains don’t have the authority to demand a skiff without permission.”

“ _Commander_.” Catra corrected smugly.

“Commander Catra?” The man asked, eyeing her suspiciously. “I’m still going to have to check with your superior.”

Catra snorted, crossing her arms. She grinned winningly. “You want to bother Lord Hordak over something so trivial?”

The man paused and hesitated, eyes darting between her and the monitor on the far wall. Then he nodded resolutely. “It’s protocol. He will understand.”

Entrapta’s eyes widened and her breath picked up as Catra’s expression panicked as soon as the man passed them. All four of them spun around and looked desperately around, searching for another way to freedom.

Despair took hold of Entrapta, rooting her feet to the ground. They had miscalculated; Catra was supposed to be able to pull rank on the skiff keeper and get them a mode of transportation without alerting anyone else. She was going to be a real prisoner if she was found here, but she couldn’t leave Emily alone even though she saw a vent close by.

Without warning, Catra bolted from the platform overlooking all of the parked and powered down skiffs and landed in the machines below. She bellowed a quick “come on!” behind her and Scorpia jumped after her. Entrapta looked at the drop and swallowed uncertainly. She didn’t like heights.

But Catra was already free of the vehicles and was running full speed across the landing zone, Scorpia in close pursuit. Brushing her phobia aside, the remaining princess jumped on top of Emily and patted her to get her moving. The robot chirped soothingly, then hurtled herself after the other to-be-escapees.

Entrapta held on desperately as they hit the ground like a cannonball and Emily ran with all her strength. She was bigger and faster than the two girls and gained on them easily enough; soon Entrapta was next to Scorpia and offered her a lift.

Ahead of them, Catra reached a skiff waiting for take off, holding a multitude of metal boxes and two drivers, and leaped on its deck in out bound. Surprised shouts came from the soldiers aboard and they reached for their batons, but Catra took one by the forearms and, using her own weight to counter his, spun him around and threw him away from the vehicle. The other raised her weapon to avenge her comrade but only struck air before Catra’s clawed foot met with her side. She grunted, stumbling back and the feline finished her by taking her baton and rolling her groaning form off of the side with a quick, “sorry, not really!”

Emily reached the skiff and clambered on, making the whole thing tilt dangerous, and crouched to let Entrapta and Scorpia dismount. Entrapta squealed and hugged her robot happily, the exhilaration making her giddy. Behind her, Catra shoved boxes overboard to make them lighter and Scorpia took the handle. Looking back to the platform, Entrapta panicked at the sight of soldiers flooding in by the dozens, all wearing heavy armor and aiming rifles at them.

Above them all, displayed on a large monitor spanning nearly half of a wall, Hordak’s displeased – _furious_ – face shouted orders and threats.

“Step on it!” Catra called, heaving from the exertion of moving the presumably full metal boxes. The skiff whined as it powered up and black smoke rose from the exhaust. Many rifles glowed with green energy and soldiers looked closely into their optical pointers.

Just as the first shots started flying, the skiff blasted off with enough speed to nearly blow Entrapta away and headed for the still-open hanger doors. She braced herself against Emily’s side when they cleared the closing door and nearly collided with an incoming skiff, then ducked down into her shadows as shots continued to rain down on them. Beeping furiously, the robot turned around and fired back; her improved shot took out an entire wall and made the soldiers scatter for cover.

Entrapta looked over at her companions to find Catra with a rifle of her own in hand and matching the army behind them shot for shot. Scorpia was hunched over the driving stick and fought to keep the skiff steady against the wind resistance and the energy beams that singed the metal.

Looking ahead, she saw they were heading for the opening in the woods, the same route the Horde had been using to expand their territory. Before them and behind them, multiple other skiffs roared to life and gave chase. Despite Scopria’s reckless driving and Emily and Catra’s cover fire and thanks to their combined weight, the enemy was gaining on them.

Entrapta huddled down among the chaos, wishing to be back in Dryl already so she could leave messes like this behind. She slid down to sit on one of the boxes, only for the top to topple over and down from the skiff. Waving her hands to keep her own balance, she looked down into the now-open box. Her fear alleviated and a grin began to stretch across her face instantly.

“Guys?” She said with a deceptively small voice. Scorpia spared her a second’s glance before she had to refocus on the skiff; Catra looked long enough to see the contents of the box before a shot nearly took off her head and she returned to firing with renewed fury.

Still, a scheming expression was slowly spreading over her face, a wordless ‘ _do it’_ to Entrapta.

_With pleasure,_ she cackled to herself, reaching into the box and withdrawing a hand grenade with an unsettlingly wide smile. Shouting a battle cry, she popped up from behind Emily and chucked the bomb at the skiffs tailing them. Shouts and swearing followed as it detonated a few meters before reaching them, kicking up a cloud of dust. Only a few skiffs stayed upright in spite of the explosion and all of them crashed into trees and their grounded comrades and each other. A stray shot singed the ends of the princess’s hair and she ducked back down with a shriek.

Catra and Emily refocused their fire in front of them until Entrapta grabbed another grenade and scattered the incoming soldiers to the sounds of Scorpia’s cursing as the explosion threw their own vehicle sideways. She righted it and all three of them whooped as they left their adversaries in the dust. Catra even stood up to wave a rude hand gesture back at them as their skiff raced past.

Entrapta found herself laughing out loud and hugging Emily as the skiff soared on, trees passing them on one side and buildings and military camps on the other. Whether because the message hadn’t reached them or they couldn’t spare the resources, no more soldiers came after them. Well, there was that one who had hidden behind a boulder and tried to take them out as they flew by, but Catra didn’t even bother detonating the grenade she threw at him – by the time he picked himself off of the ground, they were long gone.

Slowly, the adrenaline and fight-or-flight instincts died down and they found themselves sitting idly on the skiff as Catra drove them in a straight line heading for Dryl. She had switched out Scorpia when the ex-force captain said she needed a break to unwind. Entrapta played with the edge of another box, wondering what was inside. The one she found had had only grenades and one that Catra opened was filled to the brim with guns of various sizes. Thanks to the adrenaline high, she was content to just sit still for the moment, but the curiosity was there.

Scorpia noticed her gaze and moved over to her, taking the lid off with only a little struggle. It popped off as the air pressure evened out and both of them gazed into it. The inside was covered by a water-proof material and almost full of a mush that smelled similar to edible substances. Scorpia perked up upon seeing it.

“Nice, we’ve got weapons _and_ food.” She said appreciatively and Entrapta looked closer at the substance in the box.

“You call that food?” She asked doubtfully.

“Don’t be picky.” Scorpia admonished playfully. Then she smiled gently, “besides, this is for me and Catra, you’ll be going to Dryl, remember?”

“For you yourself, you mean.” Catra called from up front where she drove. “I’m not touching that stuff ever again.”

“Your loss,” Scorpia singsonged.

Entrapta stuck her finger into the box and brought some of the mush up to her face to examine it. She licked it experimentally and grimaced. It definitely tasted like the food she had been eating in the Fright Zone. Wiping the rest of it off on her apron, she resealed the box as best as she could on the moving skiff and set it behind her. She moved onto the next box, fighting the locking mechanism for a moment before she figured it out. _Push the lid down, press two hidden buttons, unlatch that and only then release the lid and pull it up._

She made a game out of it for the rest of the ride. She opened a box, took a look inside and categorized them according to contents. Scorpia sat next to her and helped with the ones that required more strength to move or open. Catra looked back at them once when she thought neither of them was watching her and out of the corner of her eye, Entrapta saw her smile softly, then settle back into guiding their skiff.

They reached the end of the fully armed encampments and flew by the scouting outposts, some of them in ruins from the Rebellion’s retaliation. Just before Bright Moon came into view through the fallen trees, Catra hooked a sharp right and drove into the Whispering Woods. Entrapta looked around uncertainly; the woods were still healing, but, according to her equipment, had enough power back to make their journey extremely unpleasant.

But nothing happened.

They drove on silently, uninterrupted, until the woods started thinning out into large rolling meadows and rocky hills rising up closer to the ocean. Entrapta’s heart swelled and her eyes stung with incoming tears as she spotted the tallest peak, knowing that on its other side sat her kingdom.

_Dryl, I’m coming._

Eventually, she ran out of boxes to dig through and Scorpia took over the driving stick, leaving her with Catra, who seemed more interested in lying in a sun-caressed spot and watching the world through slitted eyes.

Entrapta hummed to herself, drumming her fingers on the floor in thought. The anticipation was making her giddy and unfocused, so she couldn’t mess around with anything mechanic, but she felt that if she spent any more time still, she was going to combust on the spot.

Unbidden, her thoughts turned to her companions as she leaned against a powered-down Emily and observed them. She thought of them finding her in the Fright Zone, of Catra’s amusingly failed interrogation, at their support of her work even though they barely understood it. Scorpia’s constant presence even when things blew up or that one time Emily nearly took their heads off because of crossed wires. Catra going into the Whispering Woods to search for First Ones tech even though she had no proof that Entrapta was sincere.

Getting the data crystal.

Dancing around with Scorpia in their own private celebration.

Catra saving them all from Shadow Weaver.

Both of them _trusting_ her judgment and listening to her ideas.

Taking all of her quirks and ‘social short-comings’ in stride.

It was a sort of close bond she had never been able to find with anyone in Dryl. Her entire life, she had attributed that to the fact that no one could keep up with her mind and understand her ramblings about technology. But Catra and Scorpia couldn’t either. They were hopelessly lost, to be honest, but they tried, they listened and made suggestions where they could, even if they were things she had already thought of.

She was going to miss it – miss them – back in Dryl, where she was safe and provided for and free to experiment to her heart’s content. Her robots were awesome company and she wouldn’t trade them for the world, but she knew everything they would do and the conclusions they would come to, since she knew their programming forwards and backwards. Her staff were supportive and loyal, but they shied away from her experiments and quivered in fear every time something went wrong.

Catra and Scorpia on the other hand? They barely batted an eye at Emily melting part of their wall – they were _impressed_ – and defended her experiment before even powerful people like Shadow Weaver and Hordak. Sure, they had their quirks and problems too, but what sort of friend would she be if she condemned them for having troubling pasts? _I think of them as friends?_

She knew Catra was trying to be a manipulative bastard through and through, but she really cared; Entrapta had conducted many social and psychological experiments that needed her to observe individuals, so she knew how to read people and society, she just didn’t know how to insert _herself_ into it. Scorpia was funny and friendly and supportive, if a little easily-cowed.

With them, no moment was predictable or boring and though she liked patterns, sometimes, taking a dive into the unknown could be an amazing feeling.

“Wait!” She shouted louder than she had meant to, startling Catra out of her nap and Scorpia into nearly crashing the skiff. She brought it to a stop once she realized there was no danger and both of them turned to Entrapta with raised eyebrows.

_What am I doing?_

“Too late to get cold feet.” Catra said, stretching and arching her back with a happy ‘mrrow’.

“I’m not,” Entrapta replied and paused. What was she going to say? _Take me with you because I actually don’t want to leave you yet and we broke out of the Fright Zone for no reason?_ She frantically searched for an excuse.

“I’m – I don’t have any Horde tech with me. And Emily needs their tech for repairs.” She stammered quickly, making Catra’s other eyebrow join her first.

“Can’t you make what you need in Dryl?” Catra asked.

“N-no. The Horde uses a special metal that only they have. I couldn’t mix it with any other.” She explained hurriedly, hoping it sounded believable.

“Your kingdom is literally an hour away. Go there and get the Rebellion to give you the remains of the Horde robots they smash.” Catra countered, making Entrapta flinch.

“The Rebellion wouldn’t understand why I need them.” She said, even though she thought she might be lying. They had accepted Emily in the few moments she had had with them.

Catra frowned like she was puzzling something out. “You wanted to go home, so go–”

“What do you wanna do, Ent?” Scorpia interrupted with a smile larger than usual.

Entrapta jumped to explain, unknowingly falling into her habit to ramble. “Well, you said you plan on fighting the Horde? And your fighting styles are less destructive than She-Ra’s, so the robots you destroy will be better for parts, plus I could use the rest to create weapons for you to make it to you–”

“You wanna come with?” The tallest princess said with a strangely soothing soft voice.

“Yes.” Entrapta looked down, feeling exposed, and gently rubbed Emily’s side. “Me and Emily, both.”

“Why?” Catra asked incredulously.

”Sure you can!” Scorpia cheered, talking over Catra once again. The now-ex-commander glowered at her in retaliation.

“Don’t give me that look, Cat.” Scorpia said. “C’mon, let her come with, it’ll be the Super Princess Trio forever!”

Catra moved skillfully around Scorpia’s attempt to grab her in a hug, moving to the other side of the driving handle. Scorpia stood with her claws on her hips and a playfully disapproving frown on her face, “Catra, you didn’t want to stay in your kingdom, you don’t get to tell others they should.”

Catra blushed faintly, grumbling under her breath. Then she shrugged. “Your choice, princess.”

They stayed silent for a moment, until Entrapta took in her comrades’ distracted expressions and asked the obvious question. “So, what do we do now?”

Scorpia hesitated, glancing at Catra out of the corner of her eye. “We aren’t going to the Rebellion, right?”

“Hell no.” Catra shot down and Scorpia looked infinitely relieved. “They can fight their own battles and so will we.”

Another lapse of silence, then, “So, we’ll need a base of operations, right, Cat?”

“For the last time, don’t call me that.” The feline snapped, then looked thoughtful. “We’ll want to be close to the Horde, but also out of their easy reach.”

“The Whispering Woods?” Entrapta suggested. If what Scorpia had said was true, then just being with Catra would mean they would be safe from the forest’s confusing power when it regenerated. Her companions frowned.

“That actually sounds smart,” Scorpia said slowly. “We could rebuild something in an abandoned village. Sounds creepy and disrespectful, but it’ll be the quickest way.”

Catra looked back at the woods in question. “And if we learned the terrain, we would have an advantage over the Horde.”

“Alright! Let’s get going!” Scorpia cheered and jumped to the driving handle, but Catra stopped her.

“Slow down. We don’t know if they sent anyone out after us. We’ll go in slowly and stay in the trees. We find any building with at least three walls, we set up camp.”

Scorpia and Entrapta nodded, then the tallest of them took the lead and drove the skiff back into the trees at a much more measured pace than before. They all settled back down, but this time, Catra kept her eyes open and ears alert to watch out for danger. Entrapta looked back at the mountains growing smaller in the distance and felt that though her heart was pulling her there she wanted to really be where she was.

She wasn’t going to stay gone from Dryl forever, probably not more than a couple weeks. But she wanted to make sure her friends (yes, they were her friends) knew she was planning on staying with them in the long run. She would probably return to Dryl periodically to make sure everything was running smoothly and when she needed her better equipment and sometimes just to let her staff and robots know that she was still alive and alright.

Before she went back home, she wanted to settle into Catra and Scorpia’s base, so that she could find it again. Because when she returned, she wasn’t getting back out again for a long while. Her staff were technically in her employ but they were also her caretakers and thus had some amount of power over her and being gone – and presumed dead – for so long was going to send them into a panic.

She smiled a little as she thought of her kitchen staff, the three common cooks who had braved her corrupted robots and came to save her and She-Ra.

Maybe once she was situated in her new life-style and her caretakers had let up a little, she would tell the Rebellion about her well-being as well. They weren’t the ones at fault for leaving her behind though it still stung, and they deserved to know the truth. And maybe she could drag Catra and Adora into the same room to get them to talk and make up.

The paper Catra had with her resurfaced in her mind.

Definitely, that was so on her to-do list.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only one more chapter and maybe an epilogue to go! Woohoo!


	6. Bow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Horde presses their siege on Bright Moon too close and the Rebellion is forced to clean out the closest camps. When they get to one of their targets, though, they'll find someone else beat them to the punch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Final chapter YES!  
> Not much here, since its more of a tying up some loose ends.  
> It's also nearly midnight, so I really don't know what else to say.

Two days after the failed mission in Faleanes the members of the Princess Alliance were proud of themselves.

At least, Bow thought they should be.

The Best Friends Squad had returned the day prior to a nervous and on-edge group of rebels hesitantly considering sending all of their forces to go get them under the belief that their prized trio had been captured (again). Queen Angella had swept Glimmer in a tight hug, uncaring of breaking her royal image, and proceeded to grill her for any and all details. Adora and Bow had reunited with the Alliance and exchanged a shorter version of the events. After all the hugs were had and everyone was assured of their safety, the leaders of the Alliance had moved to their private courtroom to confer on the outcome of the mission and all the new information.

The news were received relatively well; everybody was dismayed about the Whispering Woods (both to learn of their creation and lack of regeneration), but jumped on board when Adora brought up her idea of creating a new deterrent – something they could rebuild if the Horde ever knocked it down. The idea of traps had been vetoed after Adora and Glimmer relayed the maze that Entrapta’s castle had turned into (Bow lowered his eyes sullenly when the inventor princess was brought up).

Eventually, the settled on a wall build from a hard black material native to Bright Moon’s mines. She-Ra was allowed to help with the construction only after her friends forced her through eight hours of sleep and by just her presence, seemed to give hope to the workers. The rest of the Princess Alliance assisted where they could, but they weren’t well-versed in building and the going was slow.

Too slow, actually, because the Horde kept sending small scouting parties to attack them and disrupt the work. They never managed to even so much as scratch the wall itself, but cannonballs and energy rifles had a way of scattering the workers not used to battle.

Which was how Bow found himself stalking through the thin remaining undergrowth in the Whispering Woods towards one of the bigger encampments. Their enemies were getting bolder, setting up camp after camp nearly on Bright Moon’s doorstep and creating a strong link of  military might across the continent.

Other members of the Rebellion were spread out somewhere around him, trying to stay as stealthy as they could when they hadn’t had years of practice like he did. Their steps crunched leaves and twigs and Bow desperately hoped the hustle and bustle of any Horde operation would hide their approach.

Speaking of which, he was starting to hear voices raised in commanding shouts and the general noises he associated with the Horde. He gave a whistle and pointed in the direction it was coming from, receiving similar responses as the entire group shifted to move in that direction. They were being ridiculously over-the-top in his opinion, but Adora had scared everyone else with stories of how armed and dangerous outposts could be. She did so without meaning to.

The sounds in front of him grew louder quicker than they should have, cries of pain and the sounds of discharging weapons adding into the mix. Bow frowned and quickened his pace, trusting his friends to do the same.

Pink glow appeared at the corner of his vision as Glimmer broke formation and teleported to his side. She was glaring into the foliage ahead of them, her fists clenched the same as they always were when dealing with the Horde.

“What do you think’s going on?” He asked casually, hoping to keep her from dashing forward.

“Probably some savage training.” She said haughtily, though she bit her lip with consideration.

Rustling above them made them jump as Adora  dropped down from a tree casually, She-Ra’s strength absorbing the impact easily. She slung her sword over her shoulder and glanced in front of them as her friends relaxed their chosen attacks and resumed walking. Bow relieved the pressure from the bowstring, but kept the arrow notched, just in case She-Ra’s glow attracted attention.

“That doesn’t sound like training,” she said thoughtfully, cocking her head to the side to listen. Bow silently wondered of her hearing was better as a mythical warrior.

“Get her!”

A barrage of shots sounded out before them  along with the order  and something  bright  green and hot seared through the trees  and the edge of She-Ra’s cape. All three of them jumped aside and braced for battle, but no enemies were forthcoming. The obvious battle continued elsewhere.

Shrugging at each other, they  picked up the pace until they were racing through the trees. As one, the crested a small hill and braked in surprise as they caught sight of the Horde camp they planned to dismantle.

It was in chaos.

Soldiers were running frantically back and forth, shouting orders and aiming their weapons at something behind a tent that Bow couldn’t see. Robots and tanks lay, smoking, on their sides or scattered around in many parts. Logs from what might have been a campfire had rolled everywhere and served as perfect obstacles and the biggest tent present was on fire.

The presence of multiple stopped behind the trio and didn’t even tell them to move as they stared in shock. Glancing back, Bow identified them as Mermista and Perfuma, the only other princesses that could come with them on such short notice.

Whatever was tearing the camp apart was doing a good job, because just an enraged shout from the mysterious being sent some of the still-standing soldiers scrambling backwards. Then one of the downed ones seemed to regain consciousness just long enough to lift up her discarded weapon and fire off a single valley of shots before passing out again. The unknown person yelped and jumped out of the shadow of the tent and into Bow’s field of vision.

If he looked to his friends, he was sure he would see their jaws on the floor.

Because the figure – built like a mountain, with gleaming red accents and a long plated tail – stepping into the light was  Princess  Scorpia.

Her mouth moved in unheard words and she struck out with her claw to bat a soldier away like a stick of wood. Another got bold and raced forward to jab the blade-end of his rifle into her stomach, but she caught it long before it reached her, sending her adversary to the ground with a strike of her tail.  T h ree figures advanced steadily on her with a constant stream of rifle-fire which was blocked by a plate of metal taken from a downed robot. Scorpia backed away, right into the wall of a tent, but she didn’t seem worried.

A  second shape darted into the fray just as the trio of Horde soldiers got confident and leaped on the middle one’s back. She shrieked with fury, but couldn’t throw the lithe figure off as it proceeded to dispatch her comrades with well-placed solid kicks to their helmets and shoulders. Then it jumped off, landing ways away and waited. Scorpia pushed off from the wall and rammed the soldier with her shoulder, taking her down instantly.

Silence reigned and dully Bow registered that there were no more awake and able Horde operatives left.

The second figure straightened as she processed the same fact and turned to her companion. Triangular ears perked up  in her long wild mane and a long thin tail flicked behind her.  When she turned, a metal headpiece caught the light, highlighting the black eyes painted on it.

“Catra,” Adora – no longer She-Ra in her shock – whispered beside Bow.

W ith no more sounds of struggle to drown out their voices, the two supposedly-Horde operatives conversation carried over easily.  They moved through the bodies and shredded metal with practiced ease, from time to time squatting down to dig through the remains.

“Hey, did she say what she wanted?” Catra asked casually as she reached a robot with deep claw-marks in its out shell. She tore the useless casing away and peered inside.

“Whatever we can get her.” Scorpia called back, throwing aside a heady-looking cannon part. “Just, you know, let’s get something still intact. That way, we don’t have to choose long.”

Catra ignored the pointed look sent her way, muttering something that Bow didn’t catch. He frowned, mind turning into overdrive, and gently lowered his body into the newly-sprouted bushes at the very edge of the trees with the intent of eavesdropping more effectively. However, his movement seemed to snap the rest of the rebels out of their shock and without warning, Glimmer shouted a battle cry at the top of her lungs and threw herself into battle.

Mermista and Perfuma startled when she disappeared from their sides and reappeared at the edge of the Horde camp already running. The Salineas princess heaved a sigh and Plumeria’s leader worried her hands, but both of them hurried after the small reckless  rebel general. Bow didn’t quite see what state Adora was in as he gave chase, but she didn’t seem ready to jump into a fight.

L uckily, Catra and Scorpia thought something similar, because instead of meeting Glimmer’s charge head on, they split up and danced away in different directions. Scorpia grabbed another metal piece to deflect Glimmer’s staff while Catra prepared to tackle the princess. She didn’t get far before Perfuma reached them and threw her hands up, what little flora there was responding to her command. Ivy raced to tangle around Catra’s limbs, but the feline evaded them easily.  To the side, Mermista looked partially lost as the lack of  larger bodies of  water became evident.

Bow scaled the wood beam of a tall tent and hooked his legs around the top, drawing his bow and taking aim. The arrow sailed true and Scorpia was quickly trapped in his newest net. She cursed and struggled, but he had upgraded his design. Another arrow drew back, his fingers running on muscle memory as his mind tried to figure out what they’d seen.

Horde soldiers had no reason to attack Horde soldiers. And not just attacking, but destroying an entire outpost like Catra and Scorpia obviously had seemed like it would be counter-productive for them.  He considered if they were trying to make the Rebellion believe they had deserted the Horde as he shot another two nets at Catra, both of which she dodged before Mermista charged in and grabbed her in a full-body tackle.

He wouldn’t put it past the Horde to try something so underhanded and self-destructive, but they couldn’t have had any clue they were readying a raid, since the entire operation was extremely last minute and just to make the damage Catra and Scorpia had they would have to keep at it for a whole a while. Catra kicked Mermista away and cut through the ivy that caught her ankles. On the other side of the battlefield, Glimmer failed to keep Scorpia down and was sent rolling in the dirt.

Adora still hadn’t joined in and Bow couldn’t see her anywhere near.

It was possible that Catra, as a high-ranking member of the Horde, was acting out against Hordak due to some disagreement that would pass in a week and this was just a one-time anomaly. Scorpia could have been dragged into the quarrel and this fight without a choice.

Catra weaved between Mermista and Perfuma, darting around too unpredictably for Bow to take proper aim. She reached Glimmer just as she was getting up and sent her down again by jumping on her back and using her as a springboard. She leaped up and caught the arrow Bow had sent for Scorpia from behind.

Snapping it just for show, she threw it in front of Glimmer and  backed away into Scorpia. Her mismatched eyes roved over the rebels balefully,  but she saw they were outnumbered and waved Scorpia back .  Bow drew back another arrow carefully, aligning it with Catra’s chest and his friends prepared their own attacks.

Both of them drew back step by step, looking furious. Scorpia hesitantly reached down to pick up some sort of metallic part, but Bow pinned it to ground seamlessly and she jerked up in surprise. Catra snarled at the advancing princesses, straightening herself to stand at her full height.

“Keep it,” she snapped, motioning Scorpia to retreat and bolting after her only a second later. Catra’s gaze stayed locked on a spot behind Bow for a long time before she tore her eyes away. Glimmer threw a ball of sparkles after them in a short fit of rage.

Certain they were gone and not returning, Bow relaxed his hold on  the bowstring and  put away the last net arrow and below him, he saw the princesses turn their attention to the decimated camp around them.

_On our side or not,_ Bow thought as he collected the remains of his arrows to rebuild later,  _they just did our job for us._

“Why do you think they did this?” Perfuma asked with a wide-eyed glance at the carnage. Bow followed her gaze and winced; some of the beaten soldiers were bleeding, not badly from what he could tell, but enough for it to be noticeable.

“Maybe they’re fighting the Horde?” He guessed, because it sounded wrong, but there was no other option that made sense to him. Deceiving them would be hard on a mission this spur of the moment and disputes inside the Horde wasn’t something they would take out on the furthest, most important operations.

“Or this place contained sensitive information that they needed to hide.” Glimmer groused, casting a sharp eye over everything. The rest of the rebels considered it: there was definitely enough damage for that, maybe a little bit too much for a simple scuffle, especially with the ease the two were taking out soldiers.

But…

“Why would the soldiers fight back?” Mermista asked dubiously, voicing Bow’s thoughts. Glimmer paused and gritted her teeth when it became obvious she had no answer.

“Disagreement between Catra and Hordak?” He suggested.

“They wouldn’t have taken it out this far.” Glimmer said grumpily. The lack of options was leaving only one plausible one. Possible, but high improbable.

Feet thumped on dry earth and all four of them stood on the offensive in anticipation, but it was only Adora finally walking in to join them.  She looked amazed at the destruction all around her, as if she was wondering whether it was all a dream. Glimmer waved her over, her stiff back and clenched teeth looking downright bouncy next to Adora’s dragging steps. They joined the rest of the group, but the ex-soldier stayed silent and wide-eyed, so Glimmer took the lead.

“Alright, we don’t know what that was about, but we can’t let them get away with it.” She proclaimed fiercely. The rest nodded resolutely.

“Yeah, but they are long gone, we’ll never find them in there,” Mermista said, pointing to the woods where Catra and Scorpia had disappeared to. Bow though he might be able to track them.

“Then we’ll split up and send up a signal when we find them.” Glimmer told them, then proceeded to assure herself that all of them had a way to signal their position. Mermista, Perfuma and Glimmer herself could use their magic, Bow had his flare arrows and when trees started falling, it was a good indicator that She-Ra was caught in a struggle.

They nodded and wished each other good luck, Bow getting in a quick pat on Glimmer’s back and a high five with Perfuma. Just before they could set out, Adora broke out of her  catatonic state to shout, “Am I the only one the least bit freaking out here?”

E very eye turned to look at her, which in turn made her blush slightly. “I mean, ugh, Catra is  _the_ second-in-command to Hordak, probably the best position she could get in the Horde. She’s not  going to sink to being a spy or the distraction.”

Adora threw her hands up, the Sword or Protection clinking in its sheath. “ There’s probably an army waiting for us in the woods! A small camp and a show wouldn’t  be a big prize to pay for capturing us. ”

Bow moved over to place a hand on Adora’s and bring her arms down gently, trying to convey his assurances through his eyes. Glimmer joined them and caught Adora’s other hand, looking imploringly into her eyes.

“Adora, we’ve got this.” She assured. “We beat them at Bright Moon, we can beat them again.”

“But–”

“I promise, if it gets too hard or we think we’re walking into a trap, we’ll turn back, call up the rest of the Alliance and _then_ kick their butts back to the Fright Zone, alright?” Glimmer asked with a small friendly smile, but her eyes told Bow she was spoiling for a good fight and wouldn’t be deterred by anything.

“Alright,” Adora conceded, probably realizing the same thing as Bow. Stepping back, she drew her sword and called out, “FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!”

W atching Adora melt into She-Ra was never going to get tired, Bow was sure of that. The bright white-yet-kinda-rainbow light that enveloped her body made his heart swell with hope for seemingly no particular reason; She-Ra’s crown shining in her own glow and her hair flowing in a defiance of gravity made her seem ethereal in a way not even Queen Angella could pull off.

The magic surge eventually evened out, the glow faded and her hair settled on her shoulders and all of them were stuck looking up at her tall figure.  Mermista tore her gaze away with an uncomfortable cough and Perfuma seemed ready to applaud. Glimmer smiled wider and waved the rebels into the forest, calling after them to split up and cover as much ground as they could.

Bow tore into the still-standing trees at full speed, memory and habit guiding him through the woods. Normally, he could get anywhere in the woods he wanted to, unless of course the woods decided he needed to be somewhere else. But now, he felt something missing. Something that left the woods feeling dead in a different sense than the rotting trees and leafless branches. His chest ached as he remembered the magic that had been there before. It was the  _spirit_ of the forest that he was missing, something that couldn’t be healed once it was gone.

Her shook his pessimistic thoughts away and focused on the trail. He had been following the easiest path from the place where the (ex?) Horde operatives entered the trees that went deeper into the trees. Catra was lithe and agile, no doubt, but Scorpia was build more solidly and would have much more trouble getting around in the overgrown vegetation as quickly. That meant that if they were heading into the forest, then this was the path that would be the safest bet for them.

Of course, that was only if they actually planned to stay in the woods and weren’t just skirting the margins to lose the Princess Alliance.

But Bow didn’t think so, because some new grass and young saplings had still-green snapped branches and trampled leaves. A patch of damp earth had an oval depression in the middle a little bigger than Bow’s footprint. The trail thinned out and forked several times, enough to make Bow uncertain he was going the right way, but he kept going. Doubling back would only confuse him more.

Eventually, he recognized the signs of a village, but from the lack of sounds, he decided it must have been one of the decimated ones.  The tracks turned and twisted more and more until he had to give up on tracking altogether and just trust that the Horde would also go to the direction of the village.

W hen he got closer and the trees started thinning out, he realized with a start that it was the same one where Adora had fought her first battle against the Horde. The same place where she had left Catra and the other girl had severed all ties between them.  _That doesn’t make sense,_ he thought in bewilderment,  _that village is on the other side of the Horde’s expansion._

T he woods didn’t have their magic back, so how had he crossed to the other side of the  line of destruction without passing through it.

How had the Horde?

And they had, because Bow could hear voices ahead, only a few, and knew that  no villagers ricked returning to abandoned towns. He notched an arrow and listened carefully; for now a sharp one, but kept the flare one in mind. The voices didn’t seem to be trying to be stealthy, not at all. They called and laughed loudly and cursed as something crashed.

C atra’s distinctive voice snapped back.

Bow’s muscles tensed and the bowstring tightened. He stepped lightly on open patches of ground. Nothing so much as whispered a sound as he approached the voices. He could make out Scorpia’s upbeat chatter now.

He moved around a caved-in house and froze when he spotted the one in front of him.

The walls that had been knocked down in the initial attack had been filed down and rid of all unstable pieces; the dust and pebbles from it littered the area around. A tarp, looking like it had seen some wear and tear even before the Horde got to it, was spread over the skeletal structure instead of a roof.  It was tied down methodically and tightly with thick ropes and nails buried in the g r ound.  The door frame was empty and uncovered.

Bizarrely, leaned against the humble hut was a slightly damaged Horde skiff, powered down but probably still functional.

Inside, Bow could see Scorpia lounging on a cleaned up bed on her stomach, claws supporting her chin and tail waving lazily above her.  She was rambling a mile a minute, leaving no room for whoever she was talking to to respond.  Bow took advantage of her distraction and hurried closer, positive her voice would drown out his footsteps.

H e was only three or four steps away from a good shooting distance when Scorpia’s eyes flicked up and met his. She startled and shot up from the bed, shouting something illegible. A shadow moved inside the house as Bow dropped to one knee and aimed an arrow at her and suddenly, Catra was tearing outside with bared teeth. She payed no heed to his drawn bow and the first panicked arrow he let loose she dodged like it was nothing.

Memories of being pinned to the ground with the Horde swarming in around them and Catra trying to carve his face with her claws came to mind as he backpedaled away and grabbed another offensive arrow. Before he could let it fly, Catra caught up to him and batted his bow away, sending the notched projectile flying wide into a tree.

He cringed, bracing himself for a beating like he’d had few times; anyone who could keep up with She-Ra was not someone he wanted to have to fight hand-to-hand.

But, instead of rending his skin open with sharp claws, the feline stopped just in front of him and glared with all her might. She crossed her arms and snapped, “What do you want?”

Bow hesitated, glancing at his bow stuck in the ground out of arm’s reach (he tried not to think how much that would damage the weapon), then at Scorpia approaching them calmly. He was outnumbered and would be beyond overpowered in a fight, so he decided to play it safe for the time being.

Faced with probably the second or third most dangerous people in the Horde, Bow gave a faux-cheery wave. “Heya,  you know, I just saw you taking on your own army and figured I’d ask, you know, what’s up with that? ”

W aving his arms in grand gestures – but careful not to hit Catra, who was still close enough to claw him – he inched slowly to his bow. With fluid motions, Catra stepped between him and his salvation and stared him down.  Scorpia casually moved opposite her, effectively trapping him. “Ah, well, that. You know, just figuring that Hordak ain’t the best to be following, led a revolt, escaped and probably trashed half of the Horde’s active army–”

She cut of with an involuntary exhale of breath as Catra’s foot struck out and connected with her shin. Scorpia scowled at her, but shut up and while they glared at each other Bow moved away from them. His bow was too close to Catra for him to make a grab for it, but he felt better just putting some distance between himself and them.

They looked ready to say more and he thought of making a run for it (he knows the woods and he has the flare arrow to get his friends racing to him),  when another voice joined the conversation.

“Catra, Scorpia, you didn’t get any tech? I need the metal to remake Emily’s casing! I know robot parts make her uncomfortable, but she needs upgrades.”

A nd Bow’s brain froze in its tracks. Because nothing in the situation made sense. Horde captains were attacking their own soldiers and Catra of all people had apparently betrayed the Horde and now  _people were coming back from the dead_ .

W hile his brains tried to get back on track and reboot, a head poked out from the  empty doorway, with wide violet eyes and a welder’s mask on top of her hair. Strands upon strands of purple hair trailed after her.

Catra and Scorpia glanced back like nothing was amiss, Scorpia calling an apologetic, “Sorry, we got caught up with something. You can raid it with us tonight!”

“Entrapta?” Bow croaked, his mind stuck in loop of watching the incinerator doors close with Entrapta and her robot still inside and the bright acid-green flames licking out of the vent grid on the doors. He remembered the fear and horror he felt clear as day. “You’re alive?”

E ntrapta gazed at him with a distracted ‘hmm’, while Catra and Scorpia mouthed “alive?” at each other. The inventor looked puzzled for a moment, as if she had trouble figuring out his face, then snapped her fingers with a drawn out ‘oooh’.

“Bow, right? It was Bow, wasn’t it? Hmm, names are hard to remember, but your weapon of choice gives it away.” Entrapta rambled and Bow couldn’t find the words to articulate what he wanted to know so desperately.

“How?” He choked out unable to add anything else; _how are you alive? How are you here?_

_Why are you with the Horde?_

T he last one kicked his mind back into working order and he recovered enough to grab his bow from behind a distracted Catra,  avoiding her startled swipe at him. She and Scorpia watched him through narrowed eyes, moving as if to block Entrapta from his arrows, but relaxed slightly when he didn’t notch anything.

Entrapta, blissfully unaware of the rising tension, bounded over to stand on Catra’s side, pushing herself up by her hair to sit in the air. “How? You want to know how I didn’t die in the incinerator? That was easy, really. Emily is resistant to fire and she kept me from the gas and heat that would have reacted on my skin and clothes.”

“You were alright?” Bow asked in disbelief. But that meant… they had left one of their own behind in enemy territory. _Oh no._

A Horde robot walked out of the hut, somehow fitting through the tiny doorway and ambled toward them. Habit made Bow tense with anticipation of a fight, but Entrapta only patted the robot, which chirped back and he relaxed his tight grip on his bow. She smiled widely at the machine.  “ Oh yes. Emily here is the sweetest friend, you know. ”

S he pulled herself up to sit on the robot. “ After 45 hours  I spent familiarizing myself with the air conditioning system of the Fright Zone, Catra and Scorpia found me. ”

Bow wanted to rush forward and hug her, but he was well aware of Catra and Scorpia’s presence, both of them glaring him down like disappointed older sisters. Entrapta’s eyes became downcast and she grabbed her elbow with her other hand. “They told me it was too long. The Princess Alliance had left me behind.”

“Oh god, Entrapta, I am so sorry. When we saw you in the incinerator, we, well, we thought there was no way you could make it. I swear, if we’d known you were – you were still, still alive, we wouldn’t have stopped until we found you. Me and everyone else. I am so sorry.”

“I know,” Entrapta said softly, “I saw Perfuma’s work.”

_Perfuma’s – oh the statue!_

“Alright, you mind explaining?” Catra snapped, looking between the princess and the archer with a raised eyebrow. Bow paused, wondering how much he ought to tell a probable enemy, but Entrapta beat him to it before he could.

“Oh! The Princess Alliance believed in my death because I was separated from them and trapped in an incinerator chamber during our escape.” Entrapta explained cheerfully.

Scorpia gave an  awed whistle and Catra snorted, but looked impressed nonetheless.“Y o u’re made of tougher stuff than you look, princess.”

“We would never have left you there if we thought you were alive,” Bow swore.

“It’s alright, I got to see and understand the Horde’s unique technology and actually study a runestone! A runestone! I got to experiment on a runestone!” Entrapta shouted excitedly, but Bow could tell she was still feeling anxious, more than a little stung by them leaving her. His heart ached for her; she had helped them so much in getting through the Fright Zone and they had repaid her by tucking their tails between their legs and running away without her.

W ithout missing a beat, Entrapta cut off her rambling and turned to Catra, letting loose another stream of words that Bow barely understood and Catra clearly didn’t, something about finding the right part for a machine she was working on that could translate First Ones data crystals more accurately and how that part would probably be easiest to create from Horde tech.  Honestly, Entrapta was his  role model in inventing and he knew  a little  something about it himself, but she could blow him out of the water any day of the week.

“Alright, you were reunited, now shoo. Go home.” Scorpia planted herself between Entrapta and Bow, motioning for him to leave. Entrapta didn’t seem to notice and she didn’t look to be held against her will, but the thought of leaving her with Horde operatives again left a sour taste in his mouth.

“No. Not until you tell me what you’re doing here.” He demanded, considering launching the flare arrow now that he had his bow back. It would feel better to have backup, but mixing other princesses and She-Ra into the situation would only make someone resort to violence quicker (probably Glimmer or Catra).

Scorpia blew out an exasperated breath, blowing her white bangs out of her face.  “ How much simpler can I put it? The Horde was treating us like shit, we didn’t like that so we’re making life harder for Hordak in revenge. ”

“What could you possibly be unhappy with?” Bow asked. Didn’t they have it all? Respect, power, a league of soldiers at their command?

Scorpia shrugged in a forced nonchalant way. “Enta was homesick, Catra was done being commanded and I realized that the Horde was oppressing my family.”

They faced off in silence, Scorpia looking just about done with him and Bow trying to wrap his mind around everything.  They were rebelling against the Horde? Did that make them Bright Moon’s allies? Or were they another enemy to be worried about?

“So, are you joining the Rebellion?” He asked tentatively. They could be invaluable additions to the Princess Alliance, once their story checked out and their allegiance was certain, but he had to wonder if that would be worth the short tempers and distrust they would bring with them. Adora was still having trouble and she had She-Ra to back her up.

S corpia gave a depreciating snort, then tried to cover it with a cough. “No, not us. We’re fighting on our own terms.  We’re not rebels, not really, we’re… renegades,  let’s call it. ”

“Entrapta was a member of the Princess Alliance before she joined you and she still is. Let her make her own decision.” He demanded, puffing out his chest with as much authority as he could. The tail princess barked out a laugh, not entirely unkindly, and he deflated slightly. But instead of chasing him off, she called for Entrapta over her shoulder, never turning away from Bow.

T he mechanic broke away from a relieved-looking Catra and leaned over to them, looking expectant. Bow smiled sincerely at her, thinking of the entire Rebellion’s shocked faces when he walked in the door with Entrapta in tow.  Safe and sound and decidedly not dead.

“Entrapta,” he started, then paused. He wanted this to sound honest. “I know the Princess Alliance really hurt you, but you are still one of us and I’d – we all would – like to welcome you back.”

Her face fell a little and she rubbed her hand down on ponytail, expression uncertain.  She glanced back at Catra, then at Scorpia next to her and her face became open in a way that her usual enthusiasm covered up. “But I\m  working with Catra and Scorpia now. ”

Bow’s heart sunk.  “ Don’t you want to see everyone in the Alliance? I know they’d love to see you again, ”  he prodded.

“I’m not a member of the Alliance anymore.” Entrapta said with so much conviction that he didn’t even try to fight it. “And I owe Catra and Scorpia for helping me escape.”

“You don’t owe anyone anything.” Bow argued. She shouldn’t be making decisions based on what she ‘owed’ people who got her into the position in the first place. Entrapta didn’t look convinced.

“Hey, you don’t have to choose, Ent.” Scorpia said casually. The two of them looked at her. “I mean, you plan on going back to Dryl at one point right? Why not hang out with the Rebellion from time to time too?”

B ow couldn’t say he was completely satisfied with that course of action, but he could see some merit. “Yeah! You could be, like, a connection between us and these two.”

“You mean a messenger to ensure that two forces on the same side of the war work together smoothly rather than collide and create traction and an explosion of massive output?” Enttrapta asked.

“Yep, something like that Ent.” Scorpia agreed and threw an arm over the smaller princess’s shoulders companionably. Bow smiled encouragingly.

E ntrapta crossed her legs and muttered under her breath, “I would get to observe two completely different strategies and social hierarchies at the same time and experiment with my input and disruptions in them.

“Alright, I’ll begin the experiment!” She shouted excitedly and Bow didn’t have it in his heart to remind her that it wasn’t an experiment. She tore herself away from Scorpia and dashed back into the repaired hut. Somewhere in the conversation, Bow had lost track of Catra so he was left alone with Scorpia.

He shifted uncomfortably, reminded of the Princess Prom and everything that followed. He might have been optimistic about her deserting the Horde and joining their cause, but that didn’t mean he was blindly trusting. Scorpia took notice of his gaze and answered with a challenging cocked eyebrow; her tail rattled a little as she curled it and Bow couldn’t help leaning away a little.

“With Entrapta running liaison, the Rebellion will leave us alone?” She asked with arms crossed over her chest.

“Well, I can’t say everyone will be happy with you, but there’ll be no coordinated attack.” Bow shrugged and flinched again when the princess unhooked her arms and stretched, snapping her claws in the air. She gazed at him steadily.

“I’m making you _that_ uncomfortable?”

“What?”

“Don’t pretend; I’ve spent plenty years among princesses to know no one outside the Horde can tolerate what I look like.” Scorpia said humorlessly smiling.

“What, no, well, that’s not exactly it,” Bow amended. “But you captured and attacked me before, I’m gonna be careful.”

Scorpia raised an eyebrow and Bow stared back in challenge. “Is that really what you expect of other princesses? The Horde isn’t right about this, you know?”

He thought of Glimmer – bright, excitable, protective – and Perfuma – a  just and inspiring leader to her people – the rest of the Alliance, She-Ra included. The Horde was selling a stereotype of princesses and rebels that barely scratched the surface of who they were. And, likely, the Rebellion’s beliefs about the malicious intent of every Horde soldier was pretty far off. Adora was proof of that and Bow hoped that maybe Scorpia and Catra could be as well.

“The Horde didn’t have to tell me what I lived through,” Scorpia fired back.

“Then you must have met some pretty big jerks.”

“Aren’t all princesses?”

“Aren’t all Horde members evil to the bone?” Bow snapped, reaching the end of his tolerance, and was rewarded by a barely-there flinch. Scorpia turned to look at him fully.

“What are you getting at?” She asked cautiously.

“Come join the Rebellion too,” he offered without hesitation and a part of him that sounded like Glimmer screamed at him about impulsiveness and inviting enemies into their home base. He shoved it aside; _if I don’t make the first step right here, right now, I will lose my chance._

S corpia was staring at him with a slightly opened mouth and eyes blown wide and seemed to be honestly considering it. “You’re trying to tell me that I can waltz in there and they won’t  shy away because I look different? ”

“Nah, they’ll shy away because you worked with the Horde,” Bow taunted good-naturedly, then wince. _Too soon?_ But Scorpia only exploded into guffaws of laughter, waving her claw to keep him from apologizing.

“So you have a sense of humor,” she said after her chuckles died down. “Good, I was worried you’d all be sticks in the mud like the short one.”

“Glimmer?” Bow asked in disbelief. “She’s a fun person when you’re not tearing her kingdom apart.”

“Touche.”

They lapsed into silence again, listening to Entrapta move around in the hut. Suddenly, the robot – Emily? – burst out, moving as fast as its legs allowed it to and skidding to a stop next to Bow. The princess raced out a moment later, stumbling over her own feet as she tried to pack something into an obviously full pocket.

“Alright, I’m ready to go!” She exclaimed, stopping and sitting on her robot to fight with a bulging pocket on the side of her pantleg. Bow smiled and offered to take some of her things, but the engineer refused with an off-hand wave.

“Scorpia, you wanna come with?” Bow asked, wondering how he was going to get Glimmer not to try to take her head off as soon as she got within sight of Bright Moon.

Scorpia shook her head.  “ Nah. I’ll keep in contact, but I’m not having sleepovers or whatever with you. Besides, I need to help Catra set up here better. ”

Bow nodded and turned to leave, then paused. Everything was going perfectly (except that half the Princess Alliance was scouring the woods looking for the people he making deals with), but he thought back to Adora’s distress about having to fight her childhood friend and her hesitant crestfallen acceptance that Catra wasn’t coming back to her.

“What about Catra?” He asked in a small voice, glancing from Entrapta to Scorpia. “She’s a princess, she could join the Alliance as well.”

Both of them glanced back as something crashed and Catra darted away from a collapsing wall with a hiss and a curse. Her tail lashed and she kicked the rubble in annoyance.

“One day,” they chorused, unknowing quoting Adora.

“Someday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might do an epilogue tomorrow or after season 2 comes out, if anyone'll read it.


	7. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all was said and done, there were still two people who hadn't had a chance to sit down and talk for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue! LET MY CHILDREN BE HAPPY!  
> This is literally a long description of me tying up loose end and a single scene at the end xD And it still ended up being 4k words.

Entrapta showing up alive and well and a part of Catra and Scorpia’s renegade trio caused an uproar of disbelief and tearful joy. The mechanic was swarmed with members of the Rebellion left and right for her entire two day stay at Bright Moon castle, many people coming to offer apologies and plead for her forgiveness while others kept eyes on her to assure themselves she was truly there and not simply a mirage. She returned their enthusiasm eagerly, but by the end of the second day, she was ready to get away from the crowds and watchful gazes and back to the peace and quiet of the small hut and her made-shift temporary lab.

On the second day, Scorpia came sauntering in the front doors of the castle, waving concerned soldiers away with a badge Bow had given her to grant her entry into Bright Moon. Predictably, the moment she came across a higher-ranking individual – Princesses Netossa and Spinnerella to be exact – the shouts of fury and surprise and subsequent fistfight drew half of the castle’s inhabitants, the Best Friends Squad and Entrapta among them.

Even though they had been informed of Scorpia’s desertion and anti-Horde status, it took Bow a full five minutes to convince Glimmer and Queen Angella to release her from the nets she had been caught in and order the rest of the Princess Alliance to stand back.

After she was free – and done throwing Netossa annoyed looks – she grumpily explained she had come to check up on Entratpa’s well-being and make good on her word to stay in touch with the Rebellion to coordinate their moves with Catra and hers. Glimmer hesitantly explained their plan to build a wall to keep the Horde out, in the opening through the forest at least, and Bow’s idea about recruiting rebels from the Horde’s own army. Scorpia had laughed at that, pointing to herself cheerfully, and they spent the rest of the day working out the details, many of them marveling and downright starry-eyed at the amount of top secret information Scorpia could provide them with.

When dusk came upon them, Entrapta said her goodbyes and Scorpia gave a noncommittal shrug and simply said that, “this wasn’t so bad.” Nearly everyone could see the gratitude and blooming happiness at being welcomed behind her words, even if at least five different people had tried to chase her out during those few hours, one even armed with traditional pitchforks and torches.

Scorpia had spent a few minutes running around with a flaming sleeve while the rebels collapsed with laughter and the poor civilian looked beyond confused, before Mermista took pity on her and doused the small fire.

They left an optimistically hopeful alliance behind and returned to Catra with matching bright smiles that put her automatically on guard.

Everyone involved, voluntarily or not, could admit that the past few days wasn’t the worst that had happened to them and some were hoping to take steps only in the right direction from there.

* * *

Within a week of deserting the Horde, while Catra and Scorpia were out sharpening their skills on an unfortunate Horde camp, Entrapta set all of her work to the side, recharged Emily and together they headed to Dryl.

The staff that had been keeping the castle in order had already received the news that their princess was on her way back, but Entrapta walking in the main gate, avoiding traps by muscle memory, sent them into an overjoyed celebration. They hovered over her constantly from then on for days, even when she worked on experiments prone to sudden explosions and possibly massive fires. At first, it felt amazing to have someone to explain every little detail to, other than her recorder, but the constant presence at her shoulders became insufferable quickly.

Her staff were worried, she knew, but they didn’t need to watch her like she was going to disappear the moment they took their eyes off of her.

Regardless of their observation, Entrapta happily rebooted her robots and recharged the ones that needed to be and set to work introducing them to Emily. Granted, most of their AIs weren’t up to Emily’s level – partially because the Horde tech had some good headstarts with programming and partially because Entrapta had been working only on Emily for her entire time in the Horde – but she wanted them to know for the moment she upgraded them.

She continued to visit the Rebellion often, always calling Scorpia along with her. She quickly deduced that the other princesses were more willing to deal with Scorpia when she was with her, so she made sure her schedule was clear in the evening hours that her friend preferred.

After a while, she started alternating between staying the night in her kingdom and spending time with Catra and Scorpia down in the Whispering Woods. The more time they spent there, the more they noticed the small details of their regeneration. Green returned with new saplings bursting out of the ground and fresh grass peeking out of the layer of fallen leaves. The smallest creatures, mostly insects Entrapta identified as species that needed dead wood to breed or survive, repopulated the fallen trees, drawing in their predators and whole parts of the food chain.

In two weeks, Catra started complaining that everything sounded too loud and that her body kept feeling weak and hurt even after a good night’s rest. There was nothing visibly wrong with her and her symptoms didn’t match any known illness. Scorpia worried about her health while Entrapta pleaded to do a full-body examination to find out the cause, which Catra shot down every time.

At one point, Scorpia mentioned that it might have something to do with her status as a princess of Faleanes and being connect to the Whispering Woods and Entrapta latched onto the idea with fervor. She spun three theories a day at the minimum. The feline tried to resist them, but faced with the combined determination of Entrapta and Scorpia dead-set on helping her and still not at her full strength, she had to concede defeat.

The looks of retaliation she sent them as she left for the hidden kingdom would have been terrifying if they didn’t know her.

The closer Catra got to the ( _her_ ) runestone, the worse the pain became and a whisper of thoughts not her own entered her mind. It was the same white noise she had heard upon touching the Tiger’s Eye with the elder and the knowledge made her speed up.

In Faleanes, she skirted the margins and the treetops to avoid the natives ( _her people_ ) and found Ms Whiskers with only minimal trouble. The elder was delighted and surprised when the teenager dropped down next to her, but upon seeing her hazy eyes and slumped shoulders, Ms Whiskers shepherded her to the Tiger’s Eye without hesitation. She sat her niece on the cool shaded ground close to the runestone, sat down opposite her and proceeded to explain her predicament in detail.

The Tiger’s Eye was calling out to her with the pain of the forest, its plants and creatures, as it tried to heal itself from the damage that it had suffered. She told Catra bluntly that the only way to understand the call and make it stop affecting her was to learn about her origins and forge a stronger connection to the Tiger’s Eye. That way, it would no longer be a whisper and pain, but rather a clear language only she could hear and understand.

The ex-commander was against the idea, initially, but when she nearly collapsed upon standing up too quickly, she gritted her teeth and agreed to learn.

And so, every day at the break of dawn, she would make her way to the Tiger’s Eye and Ms Whiskers would tell her about its history and the story behind the Whispering Woods, saying she needed to understand the forest’s experience to connect to it. Then they would both place their hands on the runestone and Catra was instructed to try to draw power from it as any elemental princess could do.

The teenager grumbled and snapped regularly, but she came day after day without fail and each day she was walking a little straighter and prouder and her feet dragged less. The pain and weakness passed and after a while, she found her connection strong enough to understand the forest without the runestone to translate and got into a habit of brushing her hands over ferns and leaves and bark to listen to the strange language it spoke in. There were no words or clean-cut information and barely any emotion like people knew them, but she felt complete in a way she hadn’t thought possible when she heard it.

Her power came in quickly afterward and Scorpia and Entrapta were esctatic to hear about it, but it took Catra longer to accept. The connection with the forest didn’t change much, but relying on a power that wasn’t her own and that she could be cut from would make her weaker in the long run.

Eventually though, Scorpia threw in a side comment about the connection to a runestone being probably harder to break than her bones and Catra was faced with the realization that the power of the Tiger’s Eye didn’t come from the runestone itself but from within her and thus was as much her own strength as her claws and agility. Scorpia swore her eyes glowed a little brighter after that acceptance.

The first time she showed up to a battle not as a sleek figure wielding deadly claws and green energy rifles but a giant light brown tigeresque cat with a fluffy dark mane, wide paws armed with much longer claws and a maw full of sharp fangs, more than half of the Princess Alliance freaked out and she and Scorpia had to step out of the battle to catch their break from laughing too long. She was in such a good moon afterwards that when Entrapta ambushed her with the request to study her transformation – by observation only, she promised – she rolled her eyes and complied.

Slowly time, as it was wont to do, erased the wrinkles and distrust that their sudden shifting allegiances caused and the Rebellion got back on track in their mission to save Etheria from the Horde’s malicious grasp. The wall became a reality and with Perfuma and Frosta’s talents in gardening and crystals respectively, it looked mystical and welcoming to the civilians on the protected side rather than a cage trapping them in. On the Horde’s side, it was dark and foreboding.

Entrapta habitually circled through staying at her own kingdom, at Bright Moon or with Catra and Scorpia in their tiny headquarters. Scorpia became a common and welcome presence in the Princess Alliance, surprising the other members with her quick wit and funny jokes and her hugs became some of the most favorite for many people despite her crushing strength and unyielding tough plating.

After Bow had managed to explain his plan in detail, Adora debated long and hard with the other two Horde deserters to determine the best candidates to attempt to convert and extract from the Horde. They eventually came to the conclusion that Lonnie, not Kyle, would be the best one to start with, since her brazen nature gave her more confidence to make dangerous and seemingly rash decisions while she was far from loyal to the Horde’s mission.

Catra herself, self-appointed leader of the Renegade Trio, never showed up in Bright Moon in person. She sent messages through Scorpia and Entrapta and sometimes even sealed letters when coordination was necessary. She became a shadow in the Alliance, there but not really. She was brought up in nearly every meeting, she was their best supplier of Horde tech and information, her spying and observation warned them ahead of the Horde’s moves, they could see her in every part of the Whispering Woods that seemed to heal just a little too quickly. She fought in battles where She-Ra was not, but kept her distance from the other princesses and left quickly after the enemies were all downed.

Many stayed suspicious of her motives, but with Adora’s steady fierce support (when challenged, she would always say with a sad stubborn smile: “I abandoned her once, I’m not leaving her behind again.”) and the princesses’ word that she was a valuable asset to the Rebellion, her name was no longer feared or said like a curse. The Horde’s downright propaganda against her swayed many of the less cautious ones.

Her name became well-known. Not on the level of She-Ra, but the bright towering mythical warrior drew eyes like the sun and had an entire legend to back her up. Catra had nothing but her own actions in the shadows, invisible to the public and barely noticeable for the princesses if it weren’t for the damage-reducing heads-up and smoking Horde camps.

She carved her name in stone on her own.

People started to seek her out after a rumor spread that she was willing to teach anyone to fight. Villagers whispered that she was waiting in the forest, amassing weapons and skills, for anyone brave enough to come find her to learn from her. Confident children dared each other to find the Renegade of the Forest. Amazed young adults said she could fight without powers and still win. That if someone made it through the woods and pleaded with her, she would pass on the ability.

To stand up to people with more power and come out on top.

While Scorpia and Entrapta laughed at the rumors and the rest of the Alliance tried to discourage them (and an annoyed Glimmer wanted to drag Catra out to put a stop to them herself), Adora – unnoticeable without the sword – smiled from the sidelines and silently cheered her childhood friend on.

But while her name became a legend in its own right, her face was nearly unknown, so when she made the decision out of the blue to finally visit the Rebellion and meet her allies face to face, nearly a month after she had waged her first battle on the Horde, people whispered under their breaths and guards tensed in her presence.

* * *

Catra walked with the same confidence she always did, fully-armed rifle hanging from her belt and a badge with the Bright Moon’s logo clipped over her heart. Villagers that had strayed close to the castle doors moved hastily out of her way, then craned their necks to look after her curiously. Guards whispered tersely to each other, glaring at her passing figure, but the shine of her badge discouraged them from confronting her.

The renegade pushed the massive doors open without missing a beat, startling people close by. They closed behind her with a definite slam, but it somehow wasn’t the same caging sound as Hordak’s throne room doors had.

The room beyond them was just as massive, but she disregarded it as she moved to a side hallway with lower ceilings than the throne hall. Her acute ears picked up on the sounds of conversation easily enough, especially when voices were raised and chairs screeched on the floor. She marched by the guards stationed by every doorway and their suspicions followed her like a dark cloud. Catra reveled in it, in her own way; she liked that she was noticeable enough that they considered her a possible threat.

She was technically allowed inside the Bright Moon castle without supervision so long as she stuck to the public and common areas and thus technically untouchable for anyone inside while she followed the orders, but that didn’t stop everyone from standing a little taller in her presence as they prepared for an imagined attack.

She was also technically very late.

‘Technically’ because she had never been outright invited and the badge she wore was actually Scorpia’s old one and no one was even expecting her to show up on this run-of-the-mill meeting of the Rebellion leaders. But for all of her love of making a splash and leaving everyone with an impression they weren’t forgetting anytime soon, she knew the damage she could cause if she disrupted an important conversation.

The soldiers standing before the entry to the courtroom (where the Rebellion seemed to be in full-out anarchy) lifted their spears threateningly, but she flashed them the badge. They stared at it with their hidden eyes, then glanced at each other and stood aside to let her pass. She gave them a nod which they returned and faced the doors that held behind them everything she had been trying to avoid.

On the other side, Adora was beyond annoyed with the Princess Alliance.

What had originally been an educated debate about the pros and cons of using most of their resources to launch a full raid on the Horde’s expansion and push the battle front back to the Fright Zone had descended into petty insults and squabbling over the best course of action. Somewhere in the mess, she could even hear someone suffering Glimmer’s legendary chokehold and Bow’s frantic stream of words about the necessity of breathing.

Then everything came to a stop when the tall doors to the side started to open with a drawn-out low creak.

Adora’s gaze snapped to the sound along with everyone else’s, finding her breath knocked out of her lungs when she met a pair of green and blue eyes.

Standing tall and proud in a way she had never been able to while Adora had been in the Horde, Catra met the floored gazes of every present rebel coolly. Adora was only partially surprised by the changes her childhood partner in crime had undergone in the time she had been keeping her distance. Her mane of hair was still messy, but a new gleam reflected the light in bright orange, she still wore the metal headpiece with pride and style only she could pull off and her uniform stayed unchanged. She still walked silently, stepping only on her very toes.

But now she carried a gun with her. Her arms were thicker, the muscles no doubt growing in from holding the heavy weapon she used from time to time. Her face was carefully blank, a feat the Catra that Adora had known would not have been capable of. Her eyes shimmered with a hidden light, figuratively as well as literally; Adora attributed it to her newfound power and freedom.

Scorpia was the first to recover, slipping around a slack-jawed Perfuma to join Catra and take her into a side hug. The feline broke her facade to elbow the taller girl away, but it looked half-hearted.

Their casual exchange got the rest of the Alliance moving, more than a few of them exclaiming delayed shocked shouts. While Catra had unofficially been a part of the Rebellion for the past month, she had never been a _part_. She never showed her face and she never met them outside the battlefield. Many of the present princesses tensed in preparation of a fight, but Catra only had eyes for one person in the room.

“Hey Adora.”

Adora felt like she was coming out of a deep trance, realigning herself with the real world piece by piece.

“Catra,” she tried to greet, but it came out sounding curt and defensive. Catra’s ears barely twitched. “Why are you here?”

“Thought I was part of your little club.” She replied casually, but though she had changed, they had grown up together and her tells hadn’t changed. She was standing too tall, trying to look too unaffected.

“You are, you never showed up,” Adora shrugged her shoulders a little helplessly. She didn’t want to do this awkward dance around the main subject, she wanted to talk to Catra like they used to, full of laughs, teasing and trust.

“Thought I’d see who it is that everyone’s so enamored with.” Catra taunted, so different from what she would have said before.

“No one’s enamored with me!” Adora spluttered with a rising blush and Catra smirked at her. She added after a second, “and since when do you even know what that means?”

“I live and learn princess.” And there it was. _Princess_. Adora’s heart ached with remembrance and longing.

“Why are you here now?” She asked, putting as much seriousness as she could into her voice. When Catra dropped her bravo as well, they became uncomfortably aware of the entire room watching them intently.

“Do you mind?”

“C’mon guys, give us a little privacy.”

Their eyes met and Adora held back a giggle at Catra’s startled expression. The Princess Alliance gazed from one to the other, then slowly filed out into the hall, meeting long forgotten. Glimmer passed Adora to give her an encouraging thumbs-up and Bow patted her on the back. Scorpia and Entrapta grinned at Catra, then hurried out as she mimed swiping at them.

Queen Angella left last, giving both of the remaining girls an unreadable look.

They stood in silence for a long while, barely glancing at each other, before Catra snorted. “Breaking news: looks like I’m more princess than you.”

“Unexpected huh?” Adora asked feebly. She had wanted to talk to Catra one on one with no fighting and no arguing for so long, yet she had nothing prepared to say. How do you talk to you once best friend who tried to kill you on multiple occasions? Giving her all into getting Catra to change sides had been easy compared to this.

“Catra look–”

“Adora, I–”

Both of them broke off, staring at each other. No more words were forthcoming so they both gave an awkward chuckle, looking away from each other. Catra’s eyes found a window and she stared at the Whispering Woods through it. It really was starting to look more green by the day.

“What happened to us?” Adora asked into the quiet miserably. Catra’s ears lifted as she turned her attention back to her former friend.

“We used to be so close.” She murmured back and would never admit to the moisture in her eyes.

“When did we grow apart?” Adora asked with tears she blinked back. If Catra wouldn’t be sappy, neither should she. The feline’s gaze snapped to the Sword of Protection left behind on Adora’s chair, sharpening into an expression they had both become more accustomed to. Contempt.

“You really think it was all the sword?”

“No, that was just the catalyst.” Catra tore her eyes away, hatred melting away into something more mellow. “Shadow Weaver. She’d been working on it since day one.”

Adora’s eyes grew downcast, thinking back to the woman who had raised her and terrified her. The closest she had ever had to a parent. “Wha–what happened to her?”

She didn’t care about her, she really didn’t, but she wanted to know either way. Shadow Weaver had been such a large part of growing up that a world without her was a world tilted off its axis. Catra gave a forced smirk.

“Dethroned her.” She boasted, but after seeing Adora’s wide eyes, her ego deflated. “She went against Hordak and got locked up in the dungeon.”

“Oh.”

Another bout of silence.

“You really settled into running this gig, huh?” Catra asked as she glanced at the Bright Moon architecture around them. It was a big jump from the Horde’s smooth walls and dirty machines.

“It’s,” Adora paused, not sure how to explain the feeling she got from helping people, from saving the world, from being She-Ra, “it’s what I was born for. This is me.”

She hesitated, but Catra didn’t interrupt her and didn’t look condescending either. “And I think, this – what you started – is what you’re meant for. Who you are deep down.”

The feline grinned slightly. “We really grew up, didn’t we?”

“From girls stealing skiffs because they’re jealous? Yeah, I’d hope.” Adora snarked, her heart soaring when she enticed a chuckle from Catra. The childhood friends stared at each other.

“Think we could pick up where we left off?” Adora ventured.

“No,” Catra said heavily. “We’re not who we were.”

“Neither is this situation. But we’re still, us, right?” She-Ra’s chosen asked.

“Us? Friends turned enemies? The leading figures of the rebellion? The best known warriors this side of the Whispering Woods?” Catra teased, but her undertone was serious.

“No.” Adora choked on her emotion a little. “I was thinking sisters.”

“Sisters?”

“I mean, we might as well be with how we grew up. Remember? Us against the world?” Adora smiled at the memory and held up her arm in their old secret handshake. Catra copied her motions and they locked their elbows together.

“Even when it all burns.” She answered, then both of them laughed freely. Adora couldn’t think of the last time she had been this carefree; Bow and Glimmer were amazing and she would die for them, but Catra knew her as well as she knew herself.

“We were kinda dark kids, weren’t we?” She joked aloud. Catra snorted in agreement and they collapsed into random chairs at the table. The atmosphere was light and friendly in a way it hadn’t been in a long time.

The silence that reigned now was comfortable and neither felt like breaking it. Until Adora remembered something and her lips quirked up in amusement.

“You do realize we just kicked out the entire Princess Alliance from an important meeting.”

Catra barked a laugh next to her, leaning back to place her feet on the table, right through the holographic map of the Fright Zone. “Didn’t seem like much was getting done.”

“True,” they laughed again before Adora stood up and Catra groaned. “Come on, we have to let them know we’re good and won’t be trying to kill each other anymore.”

“Pretty sure they’d hear if that happened,” Catra countered, wiggling deeper into the seat.

“Pretty sure they won’t wait for that forever.” Adora parroted back, slapping the other’s feet off of the table. Catra glared playfully at her.

“Alright, alright. We’ll go find your friends, lil’ sis.” She called as she stretched and headed to the door.

“What? I’m _soo_ the older sister!”

“You don’t know that.”

“Well, I’m taller.”

“And I can kick your ass with my eyes closed.”

“Not when I have the sword.”

“Wanna bet?”

“Bring it sister!”

“Hope you’re ready to lose, lil’ sis.”

As they descended into madness and playful wrestling, Adora thought that the world was finally tilting back into balance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realized that between Entrapta, Scorpia and Bow, I hadn't used the word 'gleeful' even once. Guess that says something about the amount of sleep I got these last two weeks.  
> And honestly, this epilogue was only done because I felt the last chapter didn't have a proper ending and because I wanted to portray Catradora as a sibling bond, I mean they literally grew up together with the same mother figure. I'm not against it being a romantic pairing, but I'll lean toward sibling love.  
> ALSO, SEASON 2! I'M EXCITED, IS ANYONE ELSE THIS EXCITED! IT'S COMING OUT TOMORROW!!!!!! T O M O R R O W

**Author's Note:**

> Right now I have 6 chapters planned, most of them around the same length as this one, but that number might change.


End file.
